Believe In You
by FollowingButterflies
Summary: Lawrence, Kansas 1986: Senior Castiel Walsh feels like a total outcast at the private school his mother so ardently wanted him to go to before she left. He's not surprised that he's an outcast, after all he's from 'the wrong side of the tracks' and should just have 'scholarship student' tattooed to his forehead. Pretty in Pink AU
1. Part One

**AN: Originally posted on AO3**

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**Part One**

The sound of the alarm blaring was the worst sound in the world. Well, at least that's what Castiel thought as the shrill metallic ring pulled him from his dream. With a loud groan Castiel untangled himself from his covers and rubbed his eyes several times before bracing himself for the day ahead. Monday was the worst day of the week and there was no one who could tell him otherwise.

"Suck it up Walsh, just suck it up." He mumbled to himself as he pulled himself out of bed and practically crawled to the messy pile of clothing covering the nearby chair. He didn't even look at whatever clothing he picked up, they were all rumpled no matter what he picked out, and soon he made his way to the bathroom. He had fifteen minutes before he had to watch up his dad and make breakfast. That meant fifteen minutes of time to himself wherein he could brace himself for yet another week of the hell of earth that was high school.

Two months to graduation, two months. You can do it Walsh. Castiel thought to himself as he started up the shower. In two months he wouldn't have to sit through endless classes he didn't care about or be surrounded by the most arrogant people in Kansas. He wouldn't have to wake up at six every morning and he would have to even pretend to care that everyone around him treated him like a second class citizen because his father wasn't a banker and Castiel didn't own a black American Express card. Two more months.

After his morning shower Castiel padded across the upstairs hallway until he came to his father's bedroom. Castiel gave a gentle knock on the door and when he heard no reply he breathed in deeply before opening the door. Judging from the mass in the bed his father was still asleep. Waking Charles Walsh up in the mornings was never an easy task but it was one Castiel knew he had to do; after all, his father had no one else.

"Dad…Dad wake up, its 7:15." Castiel said shaking the mass in the bed ever so slightly. Charles groaned in his sleep but remained fast asleep. Castiel gritted his teeth and tried again. "Dad" he said firmer. "Dad, you need to get up. It's after seven." This time Charles groaned but moved, his hands coming up to rub at his face.

"Dammit Castiel…it's still the middle of the goddamn night." He mumbled.

"I wished." Castiel muttered. "Breakfast will be on the table soon. Don't forget that you have a job interview at 9:30." Castiel said louder this time so his father could hear him.

"I can hardly forget about it, you wrote it on the damn pad in the kitchen and underlined it seven times." Charles grumbled opening his bleary eyes and glaring at his only child. "You're going to school dressed like that?" Charles asked looking over Castiel's worn jeans and frowning at the creased t-shirt Castiel had picked up from a thrift store the week before. "That damn shirt looks like you found it in a hedge."

"Yeah well you never got round to fixing the iron." Castiel shot back before he hurried out the room. The last thing he needed was Charles getting to him so early in the morning. He knew he shouldn't let Charles get to him, especially when Charles had probably spent the best part of the night before drinking but he couldn't help it. Castiel probably could have done with trying to find something cleaner or less rumpled to wear but really what was the point? No one at school gave a damn about him and no matter what he wore he'd still get mocked for it. He'd learnt long ago that he was happier just being himself no matter what people thought of him.

"Well good morning Cassie" were the first words Castiel heard as soon as he entered the hallway. He'd intended to reach his locker without anyone seeing him, though but as soon as Balthazar's booming voice called down the hallway several people turned to look and snigger. Great, just great. It was a general rule that you heard Balthazar before you saw him and that was saying something going by some of his outfits. It was probably the obnoxious looking blazers.

"Good morning Balthazar." Castiel said walking to his locker ignoring the snickering from three fellow seniors. Balthazar leant against the nearest locker, sunglasses covering his eyes and a huge grin on his face. Today's outfit was quite conservative for Balthazar though Castiel was at the loss as to why anyone would wear such a low cut t-shirt or pastel trousers that finished several inches short of his ankles to show off a pair of very bright socks.

"And how are we on this fine morning? Ready for a full day of overpriced higher education?" Balthazar asked throwing his sunglasses off his face and shooting Castiel another wicked grin. He might have been loud and wore ridiculous clothing but Balthazar had been one of his only friends, certainly his only friend at school, since Castiel was young. He couldn't imagine trying to get through the school day without Balthazar really.

"Are we ever ready for this place?" Castiel asked rolling his eyes. If crawling up into a ball and napping in his locker was a viable option then he would have taken it. "I have to get to History or I'll be late."

"Studious as ever dear Cassie, may I admire you again today?" Balthazar asked grinning brightly. Castiel tried not to roll his eyes but it was just too tempting.

"I'll see you at lunch Balthazar." He simply said giving his friend a quick smile as he started walking down the hallway towards his first class of the day.

"Oh you shall, I'll have my people reserve the usual spot outside for us so we don't have to fraternise with the riff raff." Balthazar called down the hallway. Castiel buried his head in his hand as several more people turned to glare at Balthazar then Castiel himself. He loved Balthazar, he was his best friend after all, but sometimes Castiel wished he came with a mute button…and shirts with higher necklines.

History was same hour long hell that it always was. Everyone around him didn't pay attention to anything going on or just sent notes back and fourth to one another. All his morning classes were like that and as long as he kept his head down and focused on his work, after all his scholarship to the school relied on his good grades, Castiel would live through it without much drama. Sure the occasional shitty comment was made in his direction but after several years of this he was used to it. As long as he carried on with his head keep down and caused no possible drama then Castiel assumed that he would get through the next few months without any real drama. At least that was what he hoped for.

In some small way though he knew that because his morning had gone off without any real hitch then something was bound to happen sooner rather than later because that was just how his life worked. Maybe he shouldn't have walked out his final class of the morning with his head bent as his placed his textbooks back into his bag, maybe he should have been looking where he was going or maybe whoever decided to back into him, thus sending him sprawling across the floor, should have been looking where they were going. Castiel spent at least once a week on the floor, people weren't very creative in pushing him over, so it wasn't anything remotely new but as he looked up at the figure who had backed into him Castiel wanted to mutter every swear word he knew. The person that backed into him just had to be Dean Winchester didn't it? Dean Winchester who never went anywhere without his merry band of equally rich and big headed friends. Dean fucking Winchester who was now looking down at him in surprise as if he was amazed someone had entered his precious personal space. Somewhere God was probably laughing at Castiel and enjoying it as he did so. He wouldn't have been remotely surprised.

"Hey sorry about that man, I wasn't looking where I was going." Dean Winchester said holding out his hand for Castiel to take.

"That was evident enough." Castiel snapped ignoring Dean's hand and pulling himself up off the ground. He really did not need Dean Winchester's help with anything. Several items had spilled out his bag and skittered across the floor. "Do you always have your head up your own ass as you walk or are you just blind?" Castiel snapped grabbing his notebook and shoving it into his bag. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say to Dean but what the hell, Castiel only had two more months until he was free of high school and if he could snap at Dean Winchester then he was going to jump at the chance.

"I'm sorry I was busy-"

"Forget it." Castiel said.

"Had fun down there on the floor Walsh?" one of Dean's moronic friends said laughing loudly. Castiel felt himself blush furiously but he wouldn't let anyone see that it affected him.

"Yeah whatever." Castiel muttered placing the last few things into his bag and brushing the dust off his jeans. There was a tear in knee of his jeans from when he fell so he knew he'd be spending his evening repairing them.

"Cassie?" Balthazar called hurrying up the hallway. Castiel groaned at the sound of Balthazar's concerned voice but that was usually followed by some sort of scene being caused. "Cassie are you alright?" Balthazar asked looking at Castiel with a worried expression. "What happened?" he asked glancing over where Dean Winchester was stood. There was a look of concern on Dean's face that was probably just for show. Why would Dean Winchester really care if he'd knocked Castiel to the floor? Several of Dean's moronic friends were stood near Dean and they were still smirking after all so he'd probably done it on purpose.

"Nothing, everything's fine." Castiel muttered placing his backpack over his shoulder and praying to whoever was up there that Balthazar wouldn't start something. He might have sounded like a PBS presenter but Balthazar could throw a damn mean punch when he actually felt like it.

"Really because you look like you've just spent some time on the floor and not in a remotely kinky way." Balthazar said.

"Balthazar its fine, I'm fine. Let's just go and get lunch ok?" Castiel said trying to drag Balthazar away before he said something perverted or threatening…or both. "Balthazar come on." Castiel pressed.

"Hey see you next fall Walsh!" Gordon Walker chortled as he barged past Balthazar and Castiel to join Dean's other friends who were now slowly making their way down the hall. It was a miracle Gordon could even string a sentence together if he thought that was a witty insult.

"Oi man! Next time, I'll kick your ass! That'll be that!" Balthazar yelled at Gordon Walker's retreating back. Gordon turned and flipped Balthazar off before carrying on down the hallway. Castiel noticed how Dean Winchester watched all off this happen with a pained expression on his, no doubt Castiel and Balthazar's presence was embarrassing him.

"Balthazar stop it!" Castiel snapped smacking Balthazar on the arm.

"Wait was Dean Winchester talking to you when I got here?" Balthazar asked looking over to where Dean was now standing by Bela Talbot, some English girl whose father did something not entirely legal with antiques and pretty much owned a whole county in England.

"No he was the one who helped me on my way to the ground." Castiel said.

"He was still talking to you, you must feel so honoured." Balthazar said sarcastically.

"Yeah like that arrogant asshole even knows who I am." Castiel scoffed.

"Yeah like that arrogant asshole even knows who I am." Dean heard Castiel Walsh say with a loud and scathing scoff. Dean watched as Castiel walked to the cafeteria with his friend, an uneasy feeling settled in Dean's stomach as he watched them walk away. Castiel never looked back.

Annoyance burned through Dean once Walsh had cleared the corner. Who the hell was Castiel Walsh to call him an arrogant asshole? He'd never said two words to Castiel Walsh before today so how could he possibly think that Dean was arrogant or an asshole? Ok true, he'd never had a conversation with Walsh to prove otherwise but he knew who Castiel Walsh was, it wasn't like he was blind. Most people knew who Castiel Walsh was, he was the sulking scholarship student who never went anywhere without that lanky British guy who had seriously questionable fashion sense. Castiel Walsh might have looked scruffy and despondent whenever Dean saw him but there was still something intriguing about him. Though the thought that he thought Dean was an arrogant asshole was unsettling to say the least.

"Dean…" Bela Talbot purred into his ear as she placed a delicate hand on Dean's arm and tearing Dean away from his thoughts on Castiel Walsh. "A few of us are going to the club after school, a few rounds of tennis then drinks in the conservatory. What do you say?" Bela asked cocking eyebrow.

"Oh...sorry I can't." Dean said trying to not look into Bela's eyes for too long because she had a way of looking at anyone and making them do what she wanted. The girl had enough money and self confidence to easily take over the world if she wanted to.

"Hot date you never told us about?" Bela asked still purring but there was a slight frost to her voice now.

"No, nothing like that." Dean said laughing in order to make Bela smile. A frosty Bela was not something people needed to witness. "It's just that I said I'd hang out with my brother after school and he wants to pick up a few books in town." Dean quickly added. Even if he wasn't spending time with Sam he'd still say no to spending time at the Lawrence Country Club, the place was too clean and snooty for Dean. He constantly worried about spilling stuff on the floor. Whenever he went there with his parents he was constant edge and could never feel comfortable there. Plus he couldn't play tennis to save his life depite countless lessons.

"Oh that's so cute!" Bela said actually stroking Dean's cheeks before turning to her heels and tottering down the hall in the direction that Gordon and the others had gone. She'd probably gone off to play her favourite game of Who Has The Most Money, a game which she always won. Dean sighed and rested his body against the nearest locker. He liked his friends, he had to really seeing as they were all the children of his parent's friends, but sometimes it was tiring being around them. Sometimes he wished he was completely normal and not a Winchester.

Sam was waiting expectantly for Dean after school and when Dean came walking towards his car Sam hopped off the hood with a large smile on his face. Sam had forgone the blazer he had to wear for school but Dean still thought it looked like a Brooks Brothers catalogue had thrown up over his younger brother. One good thing about his school was that he didn't have to wear a uniform or he'd probably end up looking as goofy as Sam.

"Your ass better not have scratched the paint." Dean said to Sam though it was said with a smile. Sam rolled his eyes and pushed his ever growing bangs out of his face. Dean didn't have the heart to tell him that he looked like one of those damn annoying kids off the daytime soaps their mom loved. The kid was gawky enough as it was.

"Yes because my slacks are made of rocks. You know, your relationship with your car is not healthy. Everybody thinks so." Sam said as they both slid into the car.

"Your health won't be healthy if you scratched my hood." Dean said starting the car.

"That was the lamest comeback ever and it didn't even make any sense." Sam said shaking his head.

"Shut up or I'm not driving you to the bookstore." Dean shot back. Sam held up his hands in mock defeat as they started driving towards downtown. "I'm gonna head into Trax while you're geeking out ok?"

"Is there even space in your room anymore for records?"

"Says the kid who has filled at least three bookshelves at home." Dean said with a smirk because he knew Sam had no come back from that. Dean had been the one to build two of those bookshelves the previous summer after he had refused point blank to take anymore damn tennis lessons. Sam sighed loudly and went to turn down the music blaring out Dean's stereo. "Don't even think about it princess." Dean waned. Sam rolled his eyes heavily and slumped in his seat. "Don't slouch either." Dean said punching Sam lightly on the arm.

"Because of my posture?" Sam asked scrunching up his face in confusion as he rubbed his arm.

"No dumbass, you'll wrinkle the leather."

"Like I said, your relationship with your car is unhealthy." Sam said.

"Whatever kid. Look, Mom and Dad have that function at City Hall tonight so how about we just order pizza and watch a load of junk on TV or something like that?" Dean asked. It wasn't remotely new for the two of them to have the house to themselves as Mary and John were always out at some event, gala or dinner. As long as Dean wasn't dragged along and forced to talk to a bunch of stiffs he really didn't care. Bela and that lot might have loved all those dances but Dean was much more happy being at home with Sam eating junk food and watching truly terrible TV.

"That sounds good to me." Sam said. "As long as you don't make us watch any of those Spanish soap operas then we're good."

"Hey! Those are educational in helping you learn another language." Dean retorted.

"When are you ever going to use 'You bitch, how dare you sleep with my husband' or 'Be a good boy and fetch me another mojito' in an actual conversation?" Sam asked as they neared downtown. The bookstore Sam loved came into few and Dean could see the excitement in the kid's face. He really was a geek.

"Hey I could become a sassy Spanish housewife in the future, I need to be prepared." Dean said with a smirk. Sam simply rolled his eyes. "I'll drop you off here. You've got half an hour then I'll come and get you ok?"Dean said as Sam grabbed his bag. "Remember, if you can't pick up the pile of books then you need to put some back."

"Yeah yeah. I'll see you later, try and picked up some decent tapes to go in your car for once." Sam added with a snicker as he hopped out the car.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that or I'd make you walk all the way back home!" Dean called out as Sam took off in the direction of the bookstore. "Punk ass kid." Dean muttered to himself as he parked his car in the nearby parking lot and made his way towards Trax.

Trax was the best record store in the downtown area of Lawrence. It felt like it was a million miles from the Main Street where Dean's friends spent most of their time and money which was probably why Dean loved going there. Dean had been going into Trax for years, he knew the owner pretty well, and to him the place felt just like a second home to him. Trax always seemed comfortable and familiar. Well that was until he opened the front door and stopped when he saw who was sat behind the counter reading a copy of Rolling Stone magazine.

Castiel Walsh was sat with his feet up on the table, his Converse high tops scuffed and grubby, and a pen between his lips. He didn't even glance up when the bell above the door sounded and it wasn't until Benny's voice in the back room came filtering into the shop that Castiel even looked up from his magazine. Madonna had just started playing on the radio and Dean knew of Benny's dislike for her music.

"Hey Cas! Change the station; I don't want to deafen everyone with that bullshit. I don't care if she's livin' in a material world or not." Benny called. Castiel snorted loudly as he adjusted the radio until it settled on what Dean quickly recognised as Bob Dylan. Dean watched as Castiel's face lit up as what he recognised as the first verse of It Ain't Me Babe filled up the store. Dean recognised that look because it was the same one that he wore whenever he heard his mom singing along to The Beatles.

"Yeah like there's anyone in here to deafen." Castiel said as he shook his head. He looked up, probably expecting to see the store empty, and the smile that had been on his face dropped slightly when he saw Dean standing by the nearest shelf. When Dean saw how Castiel's face fell he instantly remembered that Castiel Walsh was of the opinion that Dean was an ass. "We don't have a public restroom or anything like that." Castiel said looking back down at his magazine obviously trying to dismiss Dean. Wow, the guy really lacked customer service.

"Yeah dude, I know that." Dean said. Castiel looked back up with a cocked eyebrow and Dean felt his eyes on him as he walked around the store. Either the guy thought he was going steal something or he was just a bit of a stalker. It was probably the former.

"If you're looking for anything pop related then you're shit out of luck, Benny gets hives even thinking about having that stuff in the store." Castiel explained.

"Yeah I know. I know this place like the back of my hand." Dean said smugly enjoying the look of surprise on Castiel's face. "I didn't know you worked here." Dean knew he would have noticed if Castiel had been sitting behind the counter whenever he came in.

"Yeah...Monday, Wednesday and weekends..." Castiel said still watching as Dean walked through the aisle looking at records.

"I'm more of a Friday kind of guy." Dean said smirking again at the look on Castiel's face.

"Fascinating, what a life you lead there Winchester. I'm just riddled with envy." Castiel muttered sarcastically before returning to his magazine. Now who was being an ass? Dean rolled his eyes and grabbed a few records he knew he was missing then slowly made his way to the counter. It took several moments before Castiel sighed and placed both his magazine and his feet on the ground. "Will you be paying with cash or daddy Winchester's credit card?" He asked.

"Cash." Dean said bristling slightly at the 'daddy's credit card' remark because John would never give his card out willingly. He'd worked hard for his money, both of Dean's parents had, and John made sure Dean knew the value of money. "I heard you earlier on." Castiel looked back blankly. "In the hallway at school when you called me an arrogant asshole. You've got me all wrong you know." Dean said pulling a few notes out his pocket.

"Have I now?" Castiel asked as he took Dean's money.

"Yeah you have." Dean said smirking.

"And you're going to do what exactly to change my mind?" Castiel asked cocking his damn eyebrow again. That surprised Dean, he didn't think Castiel would give Dean an opportunity to change Castiel's mind.

"Well how about I sit with you and that boyfriend of yours at lunch tomorrow?" Dean offered. Castiel's expression darkened and Dean instantly knew he'd said something wrong.

"Balthazar is not my boyfriend, he's my best friend and what would be the point of you sitting with us?" Castiel snapped as he shoved Dean's records into a bag.

"In case you didn't realise you work in a record store so you clearly love music and I've probably listened to every record in this store at least twice. Dude, I think we'd have at least one thing to talk about." Dean said enjoying the look on Castiel's face as he obviously tried to think up a witty retort.

"Please, you're favourite song is probably something horrendously tacky." Castiel said scoffing.

"Actually it's Travelling Riverside Blues and if you call that tacky then you really don't deserve to work here." Dean said. For a moment he thought Castiel might hit him or throw something at him but instead he just smirked.

"Fine Winchester, have fun trying to prove you aren't the shallow and pig-headed Neanderthal I think you are." Castiel said handing Dean the bag with his records in. "You'll have your work cut out."

"You're on Walsh." Dean said smirking right back as he took his records from Castiel. "See you at school."

"Oh I can barely contain my joy." Castiel called out sarcastically as Dean started walking out the store. As he walked down the road towards the bookstore Dean couldn't even be bothered to fight the goofy smile that spread across his face.

"And why can you barely contain your joy?" A deep Cajun drawl called out as Benny came walking into the store holding a box of records. Castiel smirked as he hopped off his seat.

"Would you believe me if I said the guy I assumed was the most arrogant of those rich assholes at my school just waltzed in here and invited himself to sit with me at lunch?" Castiel asked as it still slowly dawned on him that he'd not only had a conversation with Dean Winchester but that the conversation might have proven that Castiel was wrong about Dean. He was probably still an asshole, after all everyone that went to Castiel's school as an asshole, but he wasn't half as arrogant as Castiel had been led to believe.

"No because you spend enough time in this place complain' about those kids." Benny said placing the box in front of Castiel with a wide grin. "Fancy pricing these up?" he asked.

"Go on then, I might as well earn my paycheque instead of just sitting on my ass." Castiel said shrugging his shoulders. Benny was a pretty great boss as bosses went. He'd gone to KU in '81 then just stuck around Lawrence for the past five years. He was gruff and had been known the fire staples at shoplifters but Benny was one of the most decent human beings that Castiel had ever met and he was glad to him a friend.

"So what's this rich kid like?" Benny asked.

"You really asking?" Castiel scoffed because while Benny happily listened to Castiel complain about the kids at school he never really asked about Castiel's friends and anything like that. It was probably because Benny knew Balthazar and that was bad enough.

"Yeah I am kid so get talking. This place is dead and you complainin' bout shit always amuses me."

"Good to know that Benny. His parents are like the richest people in Lawrence according to half the people at school. This basically means he owns the damn school. It's so stupid but I had this pathetic crush on him in the ninth grade until I realised he was one of those damn rich kids and I grew out of it. Until today I'd never even spoken to him and I was shocked he even knew my name. That amusing enough?" Castiel said. He still felt stupid about those few months in the ninth grade when he had liked Dean and he was glad he never told anyone about it at the time.

"Talk about cliché." Benny said with a snort.

"Thanks Benny. Remind me not to tell you anything again." Castiel muttered as he pulled several records out the box to price up.

"Hey you asked for my opinion." Benny said.

"No I didn't." Castiel pointed out.

"You know I kissed a guy once. It was in '79 and I was drunk off my ass. I barely even remember." Benny said laughing at Castiel surprised expression. "Andrea thought it was hysterical at the time and she still brings it up every Christmas." Benny had been with his fiancée Andrea since high school and he pretty much treated her like she was the Queen. "It's a good thing I love her so damn much."

"You two could be the poster couple for true love." Castiel said shaking his head. "But what the hell am I even supposed to talk to him about? Don't those rich kids just spend all their time comparing stocks and fancy cars? I don't even own a pager!" Castiel exclaimed. Before Benny could give his answer the security alarm from the back of the store started blaring. Benny rolled his eyes as Balthazar came strolling through the employees entrance, humming Otis Reading as he came.

"One of these days kid I'm going to mistake you for either a burglar and shoot you in the leg or a paying customer and make you actually buy something." Benny said gruffly.

"I don't know what is worse." Balthazar said with a shudder. "Come on Benny, you know how I love wiling away the hours with my darling Cassie here."

"You ever have one of these?" Castiel asked Benny as he nodded towards a grinning Balthazar.

"No but I don't see why you're going to waste your time on some rich kid when you have the British Invasion here." Benny said grinning at Castiel. Balthazar's face became full of confusion as Castiel frowned heavily at Benny's now retreating form as he went to shut the security alarm off. "What frowning at me or I'll make you clean the employee bathroom!" Benny called because the guy had freaking eyes in the back of his head.

"What's the ragin' Cajun on about Cassie?" Balthazar asked looking from where Benny had been stood to Castiel.

"Nothing Balth, it's really nothing. Will you help me price these records?" Castiel asked. Balthazar looked at him warily but shrugged. "Thanks, I'd be lost without you."

"No you'd just have to do your job for once if I wasn't here." Balthazar pointed out. Castiel gave him a smile but he could tell that Balthazar was wondering about Benny's comment. Castiel wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell Balthazar about Dean though it was probably because Balthazar would judge him if he did. Maybe it was stupid, Dean was probably just desperate for everyone's approval, but it still meant something to Castiel and that didn't stop a small smile slowly creep across Castiel's face over the thought of Dean joining him for lunch.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two**

With Balthazar's help Castiel managed to price up the entire box of records by the time it came round to closing the store. As Castiel finished cleaning up the counter Balthazar resorted to sitting on Castiel's stool and making scathing comments about anyone who walked past the stores windows despite Castiel telling him to stop several times.

"It's like she wants the whole world to think she's a highlighter pen." Balthazar said as a woman in a neon pink dress and leggings walked past the store.

"So they kicked you out of England for being a complete bitch right?" Castiel asked as he finished dusting the nearby shelf. For someone so blasé about things Benny had some strong issues about dust. "Are you finished criticizing the whole of downtown Lawrence?" he then asked throwing the dust rag at Balthazar.

"I might have something to say about the rip in your jeans." Balthazar said with a shrug as he caught dust rag.

"Don't bother. Come on, I'm going to lock up for Benny then we can go." Castiel stored the cleaning stuff back behind the counter and swatted Balthazar on the arm to get him to move. "Pass me the keys will you?" he asked nodding to where the keys were hung up. Balthazar, is a shocking display of actually being useful for once, handed the keys over. "Thanks." Castiel said. Balthazar grinned brightly as he hopped off the stool and followed Castiel out the store.

"So where to now Cassie?" Balthazar said as they walked to Castiel's beaten up old car. It was a hunk of junk and broke down more times than it actually worked but it was the only thing Castiel could afford and it was easier having a car, no matter how shitty, than not having one.

"Bed." Castiel said trying to stifle a yawn. He'd been up since the early morning and now all Castiel could think of was falling face first onto his bed and sleeping for a week.

"Kinky, yours or mine?" Balthazar said with a wink.

"Mine and I'll be alone." Castiel said rolling his eyes.

"Oh you spoil sport." Balthazar huffed leaning against Castiel's car and waiting for him to unlock the door. "We could go to the Roadhouse for a while; I hear there's a pretty decent band playing tonight."

"If we went then the only thing you would see all night would be the parking lot as Ash never lets you in, plus I have to study for a test on Wednesday."

"You're lucky you're a fox because you, Castiel Walsh, are a real nerd." Balthazar said sliding into the car.

It would have only taken them ten minutes to drive from the downtown area of Lawrence but Castiel couldn't help taking a detour to drive past the large houses near the outskirts of Lawrence. Balthazar claimed it was some weird addiction that Castiel had but he really couldn't help it. The houses were so beautiful and huge compared to the run down two bedroom house Castiel lived in that he couldn't help but be in awe of the houses.

"Do you ever wonder what it's like in one of those houses?" Castiel said looking over to one of the largest houses on the row. The house was a large turn of the century plantation styled structure. It was the kind of house that Castiel's mother would have loved to live in. It even had flower boxes underneath the large windows. "That one is my favourite," He said nodding towards the house.

"It's probably too big and full of marble." Balthazar said sniffing. Castiel knew he would have rather stayed downtown but seeing as Castiel was the one who was driving Balthazar couldn't complain that much.

"I don't think so. It's probably full of light with high ceilings and amazing acoustics." Castiel said smiling wistfully at the house. "Whoever lives there probably doesn't have to care out gas bills or the electricity being cut off. They could walk around and have the whole house lit up like it Jay Gatsby's house." Balthazar stared at him blankly at that comment.

"You lost me, who is that?" Balthazar asked.

"He's a character from The Great Gatsby. If you did the reading assignment for American Literature you'd know that." Castiel said digging Balthazar in the ribs. "Anyway, Jay Gatsby would throw these huge parties at his mansion in the hope that his lost love Daisy Buchanan would come to one. Nick Caraway, the narrator of the novel, always said the house was full of light as it was some sort of carnival or it was Christmas." Castiel explained. "F. Scott Fitzgerald based some of Gatsby's house on Oheka Castle in Long Island and he based West Egg, the 'new money' side of Long Island, on Great Neck."

"You know too much about things, I hope you know that."

"There's nothing wrong with knowing about books." Castiel said shrugging.

"Trust you to make a book analogy." Balthazar said chortling.

"I'm just saying that's what the house reminds me of." Castiel said still looking over at the house. Most of the lights were on, two cars and a bicycle were in parked in the driveway so clearly there were people home, and Castiel felt that his book analogy was actually quite accurate.

"Underneath of that sarcasm and contempt you're really just a big, nostalgic romantic aren't you?"

"Maybe I just really like the house." Castiel said quickly.

"Nice save." Balthazar snorted. "Come on, this is enough creepy stalking of houses for one day. Didn't you say you needed to study instead of being cool?"

"I'm never cool Balthazar. I'm never cool." Castiel chuckled more to himself than at Balthazar.

"Please, you're the coolest person I know Cassie and don't forget that." Balthazar interjected. Castiel wanted to point at that Balthazar's comment was as far from the truth as you could get but instead he started the car back up and carried on driving home.

Castiel dropped Balthazar off then returned home. Like always there were no lights on and his father's car wasn't in the driveway. Charles Walsh was probably at the local bar getting started on his fifth beer and continuing to forget that he actually had a son at home. Castiel let himself into the dark, empty house and his mind went back to his conversation that afternoon with Dean. Dean probably lived in some huge house, got along with his parents and never had to return to a cold empty house. He probably had a cook to make his dinner and instead of making crappy Kraft Mac'n'Cheese like Castiel was now at least attempting to do.

"Fuck sake." He muttered under his breath as he rested against the grimy kitchen counter. One stupid conversation with Dean Winchester and now he was all Castiel could think about. How pathetic could he really get? "Get a grip Walsh. Get a grip."

While the cafeteria was where most of the students hung out at lunch time Castel preferred sitting outside in the courtyard. There was less chance of having his tray knocked over or people spitting in his food. For rich kids the people at his school weren't very creative and had terrible manners. The courtyard also didn't smell like day old pizza and fries.

"So this is where you spend your free time." Castiel heard someone say as he chewed on his cheeseburger. Looking up he wasn't that surprised to see Dean standing over him. He swallowed his cheeseburger quickly before Dean could say anything else or sit down.

"Yeah well it doesn't smell like self-importance and overpriced cologne out here." Castiel said shrugging his shoulders

"Wow, you really hate everyone at this school don't you?" Dean asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"They haven't really given me any other option have they?" Castiel replied shrugging. Dean snorted loudly as he sat down next to Castiel. "I didn't say you could sit down." Castiel huffed though he was rather glad Dean had sat down, it would have been awkward with Dean just standing there.

"Well I prefer not to eat standing up." Dean said pulling his own cheeseburger out the paper bag in his hand.

"What, no caviar?" Castiel asked.

"Dude no way, most food here is awful but you cannot beat the burgers. And I know enough about caviar, well basically what it is, to never want to eat it. Sorry if that ruined half of the images you had of me." Dean said smiling and for the first time in a long time Castiel saw the carefree nature that had drawn him to Dean back in ninth grade.

"Like I had any images in my head of you." Castiel said with a snort.

"So…no British sidekick today? Aren't you two joined at the hip?"

"Balthazar is in detention."

"What a rebel." Dean said snorting. Castiel frowned but before he could say Dean cut it. "That was a joke." He said.

"It was a pretty lame joke."

"Jeez man, I really have my work cut out with this don't I?" Dean said rolling his eyes.

"Well two conversations and you walking into me don't really make up for years of us never saying two words to one another do they?" Castiel pointed out.

"Well how about this, you know my favourite song but I don't know yours. What is it?" Dean asked.

"Fuck…that's the worst question to ask me." Castiel said finding that he was laughing out loud. "I have about hundred." He explained and Dean nodded his head in what seemed like agreement.

"Oh man I get that; who's your favourite singer then?" Dean asked.

"Ok that is easy, Bob Dylan. He has to be one of the greatest songwriters I have heard. No matter who or where you are his lyrics will always be so relevant." Castiel said having to reel himself in slightly or he knew he'd end up rambling about music.

"Favourite band?" Dean

"Did you ever tell me yours?"

"It's safe to say it's Led Zeppelin. You?"

"Um…Jefferson Airplane. I know they're old but my mom's favourite song was Comin' Back To Me and she used to play it all the time when I was going so I guess I grew up liking them." Castiel said. "Do you have that one song that you hear and it just takes you back to when you were a kid? You only have to hear a few chords and you're instantly a little kid again...do you have that?" Castiel asked looking over to Dean and being amazed to see a wide smile on Dean's face.

"Yeah I have that. You know The Beatles' song Hey Jude? My mom sang it to me all the time when I was a kid, it was the only song that used to send me to sleep, and every time I hear it now I feel like a kid again. I know it's stupid but whenever I hear her just humming it around the house I can't help but smile because of the nostalgia." Dean said. "I guess that's why you work in a record store…that feeling and all."

"Yeah, I get to surround myself with as much music as I can stand. It's sort of my dream job to be honest; I couldn't imagine doing anything else." Castiel said as a small smile crept across his face. "So The Beatles huh? I guess you're not as awful as I first thought."

"That's good to know Walsh seeing as you thought I was an arrogant asshole originally."

"I didn't…I didn't…Ok I did but that was probably because we hadn't actually spoken before but I don't now..."

"And all it took was a conversation about The Beatles." Dean said with an easy grin.

"God you really think you're smooth and charismatic don't you?" Castiel asked shaking his head. "You're not but at least your taste in music doesn't completely suck."

"That's the highest form of praise I'm going to get from you isn't it?"

"Yeah pretty much." Castiel said before digging back into his cheeseburger. Dean smiled but Castiel could tell that there was something on his mind, it was written all over his face and Castiel had to wonder yet again why Dean Winchester would want to spend his time out in the courtyard when he could be inside with his friends. "Why are you seeking my praise?" Castiel asked after he'd swallowed his burger and placed the last bite back onto the tray on his lap.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you trying so hard to prove you're not an asshole?"

"Because no one really wants to be known as an asshole?" Dean offered. Castiel just rolled his eyes and went to return to his cheeseburger. "Ok…maybe it's because you're a pretty decent guy and I didn't like the fact that you thought I was a jerk."

"How could you tell I was a pretty decent guy if you wanted said two words to me before yesterday?"

"Because you didn't try to fit in." Dean said and Castiel was shocked by how bluntly he said it. "Look this is going to sound pretty forward but...there's this party on Saturday night at my friend Victor's house and I wondered if you wanted to go with me." Dean said. The smile on his face was easy going but Castiel could tell from the look in his eyes that he was deadly serious.

"But I'm not a girl...and I'm not rich." Castiel said.

"Wait...you're not?" Dean said though his sarcasm was apparent. "I know that Castiel, do you really think that I care about any of that bullshit?" Dean asked. This threw Castiel for a complete loop; one he was under the impression that Dean was completely straight and secondly…well this was Dean Winchester asking Castiel to spend Saturday night with him.

"I think you should." Castiel said. Dean even sitting next to him was big so Dean inviting him to a party...well that was unheard of. Castiel only had three months left and then he was graduating

"Well I don't." Dean said shrugging. "If you don't want to then that's fine, it was probably really forward of me but-"

"No…I mean I want to go with you even though we'll probably have to listen to God-awful music while being surrounded by stuck up rich-"

"Is this going to turn into a long ass monologue? Because I have a Political Science class in like half an hour and I have to hand in a paper." Dean said giving Castiel a slight nudge.

"Yes I'll go with you…but if the music is lame then you'll never hear the end of it." Castiel said

Saturday night come around at shocking speed which would have been fine if Castiel had actually prepared himself mentally for going out on a quasi-date with Dean Winchester. Or maybe he should have told Balthazar about said date because his best friend was still completely in the dark about the whole thing. Castiel had told Dean to pick him up from Trax for several reasons; the first being that he was working that day and wouldn't have had time to go back home, secondly a pep talk from Benny was always needed in situations like this and thirdly because there was no possible way Dean was seeing the shithole that Castiel lived in.

"You're going to put yourself into an early grave kid." Benny said as Castiel glanced over at the clock hanging on the far wall for what seemed like the millionth time. It still said that it was half past six just like it had said the last three times Castiel looked at it.

"Have you been drinking too much coffee or something?" Balthazar asked flicking through Castiel's copy of Rolling Stone magazine.

"No, I'm perfectly fine." Castiel said which would have been convincing if his voice didn't go up two octaves so it now sounded like a normal human's voice instead of a chain smokers.

"Sure…is that why you brushed your hair for once?" Benny asked whacking Balthazar on the legs when he tried to rest his feet on the counter.

"Sothern Comfort is right, you look…groomed. What's up with that?" Balthazar asked. Castiel purposely avoided this question and turned to Benny.

"I don't even know what I'm doing Benny." He said looking down at his outfit which was pretty much what he wore all the time apart from the fact that it was actually ironed for once.

"Wishful grooming by the looks of it kid." Benny said. "Normally I'd find this amusing but if you don't calm down you might have a heart attack or somethin' like that. Decent workers are hard to come by so try not to die on me." He added giving Castiel a reassuring smile. "And don't drink anymore coffee or I'm switching to decaf."

"You wouldn't" Castiel said in mock horror.

"Oh I would. At least your powers of sarcasm aren't lost."

"I actually would die if I lost those."

"Yeah you would actually have to develop some customer service skills instead of just scowling at people."

"Well they shouldn't ask questions like 'Is the new album by The Bangles any good?'" Castiel pointed out.

"You got a point there." Benny said with an agreeing nod.

"Hello…still lost as to what you two are actually talking about over here." Balthazar said still flicking through Castiel's magazine. Castiel rolled his eyes and still didn't say anything. There would no doubt be some sort of explosion once Balthazar found out where Castiel was going.

"What time is Prince Charming coming by anyway?" Benny asked looking at the clock. They had only just closed the store and Benny probably wanted to head off though he was being pretty chill about Dean meeting Castiel at the store.

"I said I would have finished cashing up and locking the store around seven." Castiel said.

"Yeah thanks for locking up tonight kid. Listen, you enjoy the party no matter what." Benny said dropping the keys to Trax into Castiel's hand. "Ifit goes south then Andrea and I will be at the Roadhouse ready to hear you rip those rich kids new ones." He added. Balthazar looked up from his seat behind the counter and frowned.

"Ok Cassie, what is Grumpy the Southern Bear on about?" Balthazar asked.

"Hey Queen Elizabeth, behind the counter is for employees not for mooching teenagers." Benny said pointing at Balthazar. Balthazar sighed loudly and hopped from his seat to sitting on the counter.

"Now I'm technically on the desk, not behind it."

"I'm going to ban you for here if you're not careful." Benny muttered before looking over to Castiel. "Have fun tonight kid; see you on Monday if it all goes well." He said nodding his head before shooting Balthazar one last disgruntled look and heading towards the employee exit.

"Seriously, what was Benny talking about? I thought we were going to the Roadhouse tonight. I dolled myself up!" Balthazar said motioning to his usual low neck t-shirt which he'd teamed with a garish blazer, tight pants and brightly coloured, though odd, socks.

"If we were it would technically be me getting in their while you sat outside for five hours because , as I remind you every time you want to go, Ash never lets you in and he probably won't even after you turn twenty one because you hold him his hair was stupid that one time." Castiel said deliberately avoiding Balthazar's question because he knew he'd get yelled at.

"It is stupid and if I was back home living with my nana then I could, legally, be drinking and getting into bars. This whole country is very backwards." Balthazar said. "But stop trying to change the subject! Castiel, will you just tell me what's going on?" he then asked. Ok things were serious when Balthazar called him by his actual name instead of Cassie. No matter what he said Balthazar would yell at him so it was better to just tell the truth…probably.

"I'm going to a party at Victor Henriksen's house with Dean Winchester." Castiel said after a long pause. He could feel the temperature in the room chilling as soon as the words came out his mouth.

"None of that statement made the slightest bit on sense." Balthazar said staring at Castiel with a look of utter confusion. "Say that again."

"I had lunch the other day with Dean and he asked me if I wanted to go to a party with him…and I said yes." Castiel said. He could see anger in Balthazar's face and he knew full well that his best friend was about to explode.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Balthazar snapped leaping from the counter. "No but really, are you being serious right now?"

"Yes…I know you think he's an ass but once I started talking to him I realised he wasn't actually that bad." Castiel said. Dean was kind of egotistical but there was something about him that was…different, it was intriguing.

"I can't believe you're going to a party with Dean Winchester. Are you completely out of your mind? He's one of the guys who have been shitting all over us for years! He's just like all the other rich assholes in this town and he'll do nothing but mock you and treat you like total crap! Why can't you see that?"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Castiel snapped. Balthazar was his best friend, he would always be, but he couldn't understand why he was getting so angry over something that actually made Castiel kind of happy.

"Why am I…why am I…" Balthazar practically babbled shaking his head with what looked like frustration. "You don't see it do you? You really don't see it do you?"

"See what Balthazar? See what?"

"You don't see me…I've always been there and I've been crazy about you since like the fourth grade but you've never seen me like that at all!" Balthazar cried looking on the brink of tears. Castiel stopped and it felt like all the air had left his body. Balthazar was right, he'd never seen it. He'd been with Balthazar since they were little kids and he'd never even seen it. He'd always assumed that Balthazar saw him the same way he saw Balthazar; as a best friend. Clearly he'd been wrong.

"Balthazar…I'm…I'm so sorry." He said hating the stricken look on Balthazar's face. "I guess you're right, I never saw it. I never saw it and I'm sorry that I never did but…but you're my best friend and I love you but…just…not like that." Castiel said wincing at his words but he knew it would hurt Balthazar even more if he didn't tell him the truth.

"I'm not particularly concerned with whether or not you love me, because I lived to love you and... and I just can't love you anymore. I can't do it anymore because you're going to go off with Winchester and you don't even realise that he's going to shit all over you because you're not like him!"

"Not like him? He's a guy who loves music and would do anything for his family; I think we're pretty alike!" Castiel said becoming angry again.

"You don't have money! You don't drive some fancy car or have an accountant and you don't live in some huge mansion surrounded by butlers!"

"So I can't go out with him just because he has money? That's ridiculous Balthazar! If I don't go out with him just because he's got money then I'm just as bad as the people who have mocked us for not having money! Don't you see that?" Castiel said stating to shake with anger.

"Fine…fine Castiel. You go out with Mr Money and when you're feeling real low and shitty, and your heart is splattered all over hell because Dean Winchester has dumped you like he's going to do once he gets over what is clearly a phase, don't look to me to pump you back up 'cause...'cause...'cause maybe for the first time in your life I won't be there to pick up the pieces!"

"I can't believe you're actually saying this to me." Castiel said as he stared at his best friend. He couldn't believe that Balthazar was really doing this right now, that he was really saying all of this. "You know what; Dean will be here in a minute. I think its best that you're not here." Castiel snapped. "We're officially closed anyway so you shouldn't even be in here." He added folding his arms across his chest. Balthazar looked back at him, a furious look on his face, and then scoffed loudly.

"Believe me, I don't want to be here to witness the car crash that is Dean Winchester trying to act like anything but the over entitled bastard he really is. He doesn't date people like you Castiel, he dates rich girls like Bela, Lisa and Tessa and the sooner you realise that the better." Balthazar barked as he stormed past Castiel and out the employee's exit.

As the door slammed Castiel felt himself deflate. Deep down Balthazar was probably right because Dean was most likely just doing this because he'd run out of girls to date or because he thought Castiel was a challenge but there was a part of Castiel that didn't believe that at all. That small part believed that Dean really did like him and that was the part he would cling to tonight because, surprisingly, he actually liked Dean…he really liked Dean.

Castiel sank onto his stool behind the counter and sighed heavily. He shouldn't have been so selfish to not see Balthazar, to not see how Balthazar felt about him but really what could he of done? He loved Balthazar, he really did, but as a best friend and nothing else. Castiel rested his head in in his arms and probably would have fallen asleep if it weren't for the knock the store's front window. His head whipped up, thinking for a moment that it might have been Balthazar but that was stupid because Balthazar always came in through the employee's entrance just to annoy Benny. It was Dean, now walking towards the door with a smile on his. Dean knocked on the front entrance and gave Castiel a small wave through the door's window. There was no going back now Castiel thought as he walked to the door and let Dean in.

"Hey…are you ok?" Dean asked as the smile slipped from his face and was replaced by a frown.

"Me? Yeah…yeah it's nothing. I'm fine." Castiel said picking up the keys Benny had left him. "I just need to lock up the back for Benny then we can go."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Dean asked sounding genuinely concerned. Castiel nodded his head but that was the easiest thing to do. He could have explained what had happened with Balthazar but that would have just opened huge can of worms.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Can we just go now?" Castiel asked and Dean nodded his head. Castiel sighed with relief as he guided Dean out the back of the store. He wasn't going to let this get to him; he really wasn't because tonight was about him and Dean and that's what he had to remember.

There was something wrong with Castiel but he clearly didn't want to talk about it so Dean wasn't going to pressure him into saying what was wrong. It did put a dampener on the evening though Dean wasn't going to let that become obvious. For a wild moment Dean thought that maybe Castiel's friend had said something to him, he had always had enough things to say about Dean and his friends in the past, but maybe that was just Dean being paranoid.

Castiel was nearly silent as they walked to Dean's car and Dean racked his brain for something, anything, to say. They couldn't just stay in silence for the rest of the night or it would officially be the worst date of Dean's life, made worse by the fact that he wanted this date to actually go well. He opened the door for Castiel, receiving a small smile in return which was something at least, and quickly got into the car before Castiel was given a chance to realise that this was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever agreed to and left Dean all alone.

"You wanna pick a tape?" Dean asked nodding towards the box of tapes at Castiel's feet. Music always seemed like a good place to start with Castiel. If Sam were here he would have made such a fuss and brought up the whole 'driver picks the music' philosophy Dean had when it came to his car but this was Castiel; if Dean picked the song tape then he would be mocked until the end of time.

"Are you afraid to pick something truly shitty?" Castiel asked picking up the box and rummaging through until he selected a tape. It was scary how accurate he'd been even if he thought it was a joke.

"Like there is anything shitty in there." Dean said trying to cover up his slight blush. Castiel merely scoffed and inserted a tape into the stereo. After a moment the B side of AC/DC's Back in Black started up and Dean couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his face.

"Good choice?" Castiel asked and in that moment Dean thought that maybe Castiel was trying to impress Dean just as much as he was trying to impress Castiel.

"Yeah…good choice Cas." Dean said. There was clearly something still on Castiel's mind as Dean pulled out the parking lot, it was written all over his face, and Dean knew there was probably nothing he could do to make things better. He did know how he could make the evening worse though and that was by making Castiel spend the evening surround by Dean's friends. "Listen…how about we just skip the party?" Dean suggested. The party would be obnoxious and full of idiots; it was the last place Castiel probably wanted to be so Dean wondered why he'd even agreed to go there with Dean.

"What?" Castiel asked looking over at him and frowning.

"Honestly it's just going to be a lame party and we'd probably spend most of the night looking for one another in Victor's house or avoiding people." Dean said trying desperately to sound blasé about the whole thing.

"Because you wouldn't want them to see me?" Castiel said practically pouting which shouldn't have been remotely cute. Or maybe Dean shouldn't have thought that it was cute.

"Hell no, it's because I wouldn't want to talk to them because they're all dicks." Dean said quickly before Castiel thought that Dean would be embarrassed to be seen with him. "How about we go somewhere where you won't get roped into a conversation about the stock market or Madonna?"

"I guess I know somewhere we can go, if you're up for it." Castiel said finally smiling. That damn smile was going to be the death of Dean if he wasn't careful. It was probably because he hadn't seen Castiel smile often, smirking seemed to be more his forte, but when he did smile it seemed like everything around him brightened up just because of his smile.

"Yeah I'm up for it, wanna give me directions?" Dean asked.

"Yeah sure, we're not too far away anyway." Castiel said. "That's if you're ok with sticky floors, questionable mullets and loud music."

"Dude you just described my heaven." Dean chuckled. He knew that Castiel probably thought he was more at home in stuffy clubs while wearing pastel polo shirts but he really wasn't. If Dean could get away with it he would probably spend all his time downtown in dank bars slowly going deaf thanks to loud, decent, music.

"Jesus…you really aren't what I expected at all." Castiel said proving Dean's theory partially correct.

"Well that's why we're here isn't it?"

Dean had never stepped foot in the Roadhouse bar before, mainly because it was downtown so none of his friends would step foot there, but he'd always heard about great bands that played there. He parked up and felt a sense of gladness that his car fitted in with many of the others in the parking lot. His dad's BMW would have stuck out like a sore thumb.

"You sure about this? We could still go to that party" Castiel offered.

"You think a place like this is going freak me out?" Dean asked.

"No, I'm afraid I'll lose my street credentials by being seen with you in here."

"That cut me real deep there Walsh."

"You'll live." Castiel said with a shrug. He seemed to have cheered up slightly which was a good thing at least. "Come on, you got fake ID?"

"Dude please." Dean said pulling out his wallet.

"Don't flash the American Express around too much or I really will lose my reputation."

"The American Express is at home. Tonight I'm just a high school kid with twenty bucks to his name."

"Of course you are Winchester, of course you are." Castiel said and his familiar was back and bigger than ever. If it wasn't possibly for Dean to outwit that damn smirk he was going to end up having to kiss off Castiel's face instead. The latter was the more tempting out the two options anyway.

"Are you going to stay here and smirk at me all night or are you planning on getting out the car." Dean asked and he swiftly received a light punch on the arm from Castiel. Smirking himself he climbed out the car and was soon joined by Castiel.

"Hey Ash!" Castiel called as they neared the main door. A skinny guy with a seriously questionable mullet who looked in his mid-twenties grinned and high fived Castiel.

"Hey man! Who's your friend here?" the guy asked looking Dean up and down.

"Ash this is Dean, Dean this is Ash. Don't let the hair fool you, he's actually a decent guy."

"Hey this is a style unlike your mop." Ash said running a hand through his hair. "It's all business at the front and party at the back."

"If you say so Ash." Castiel said grinning.

"Wait…Dean…are you the rich guy Balthazar was complaining about earlier on?" Ash asked. Castiel's grin quickly disappeared and the look that replaced it was the most pissed off look Dean had ever seen on a human being and it was actually pretty hilarious. He never realised lips could become that pursed.

"Yeah I guess so." Dean said warily.

"Well in that case…name Led Zeppelin's 1975 album." Ash said with a look full of concentration.

"Dude that's easy, Physical Graffiti." Dean said snorting. Castiel rolled his eyes at Ash and wore a bemused expression.

"1979?" Ash said narrowing his eyes.

"In Through the Out Door." Dean shot back. A smirk spread across Castiel's face, thankfully replacing the pissed off expression he wore before, as Ash sighed loudly.

"You're going to lose this one Ash, his favourite band is Zeppelin and he's almost as obsessed as I am when it comes to music." Castiel said.

"Fine, you've passed the test. Proceed." Ash said waving Dean and Castiel inside.

"There's a test?" Dean asked cocking an eyebrow.

"There is if you want to hang out with Walsh over here." Ash said giving Castiel a bright smile.

"Thanks for that Ash." Castiel said sarcastically grabbing Dean by then arm and pretty much pushing Dean inside. "Sorry about that, Ash is - well he's Ash but he's harmless." Castiel said. Castiel's hand was still on Dean's arm guiding him into the bar and Dean was pretty glad of it, the place was absolutely packed out and pretty dark. "I'm going to get some drinks, you find us a table." Castiel yelled over the music. "What do you want?" he asked moving closer. His lips brushed by Dean's ear as he spoke, sending a jolt of electricity down Dean's spine.

"Just a beer" Dean replied. Castiel nodded and let go of Dean's arm before walking over towards the bar. Dean was sorry for the loss of Castiel's touch. Shaking his head, and silently telling himself to get a fucking grip, Dean looked around the place for a free table and spotted one not too far from both the bar and the stage. He had neared the table when he heard name being called from across the room. Looking up he was amazed to see Benny of all people.

"Winchester? What are you doing in this shithole?" Benny asked striding over and punching Dean lightly on the arm.

"I…I'm here with Cas." Dean said nodding towards the bar where Castiel was stood.

"Really? You passed Ash's test then?" Benny asked. Castiel came walking towards them holding two beers and stopped when he saw Benny. "Hey Walsh, the rich kid was Winchester? Well aren't you a well of secrets." Benny said with a huge bear-like grin.

"You two know each other?" Castiel asked handing Dean one of the bottles of beer. Benny laughed loudly causing several people to look over towards them.

"This punk has been coming into the store since I brought it and keeping us in business. He's the reason I managed to get my car last year." Benny said. "What happened to the party?" Benny then asked. Dean wasn't surprised that Castiel had told Benny about the evening, they worked together after all.

"I didn't think Cas deserved to be surrounded by a bunch of rich assholes." Dean said. Benny laughed loudly and shook his head.

"I don't blame you there Winchester." Benny said giving Dean a smile before he looked over at Castiel. "Balthazar's here by the way. What did you say to the kid? He looks like someone ran over that damn bike of his. Sulkin' a baby."

"How the hell did Balthazar even get in?" Castiel asked. Obviously Balthazar hadn't passed Ash's test.

"I think Ash felt sorry for him." Benny said with a shrug. "There he is" he said nodding over to where the British kid Dean always saw Castiel with was walking over to them. He stopped when he saw Castiel and Dean standing next to one another.

"Dean you know Balthazar." Castiel said before he took a large gulp of his beer. Honestly Dean felt like doing the same as the look Balthazar was giving him could have frozen water.

"Not that well, hey man I'm Dean Winchester." Dean said trying to sound as friendly as possible towards the guy giving him seriously questionable looks.

"Oh I know who you are." Balthazar said with a snap. Ok then…Dean thought. "So…you're here. What happened? Did your party run out of caviar or something like that?"

"Balthazar." Castiel said warningly. The exasperated look on his face made it obvious he was used to playing mediator.

"Well I was just wondering why Mr Moneybags was slumming it with us commoners." Balthazar shot back.

"Balthazar I mean it." Castiel said. When it looked like Castiel was going to move towards Balthazar, Dean placed a hand on Castiel's arm to steady him.

"It's fine Cas." He said to Castiel before looking at Balthazar. "Dude, don't you think you're acting like an asshole right now?" Dean asked. "Just leave it."

"Leave it? Why couldn't you just leave it?" Balthazar snapped. Castiel slammed his, now half empty, beer bottle on the nearby table and looked down right furious.

"I think you should all leave it alone." Benny said looking uncomfortable.

"Balthazar just stop it, you're acting like a real jerk." Castiel snapped.

"You're pissing Cas off and making a scene." Dean pointed out because it really did look as though Castiel was a moment away from exploding.

"Oh I'm pissing 'Cas' off am I? Walk waltz in after one lunch with Cassie and think you know him? Who the hell do you think you are?" Balthazar asked.

"Balthazar would you like us to leave, is that it?" Castiel asked.

"Very much so." Balthazar said folding his arms across his chest.

"Fine then." Castiel snapped. He turned to Dean and motioned towards the door. "Come on, let's go somewhere else." He said actually taking Dean's hand in his own. Dean wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to or because he wanted to piss of Balthazar but either way didn't care because it felt damn good. Castiel shot an apologetic look at Benny then guided Dean out the bar. "I'm sorry about that." He said once they were outside and walking across the parking lot.

"It's fine Cas." Dean said and he really meant it. As long as Castiel wasn't upset he really didn't care what Balthazar had said to him.

"It's not, it's really not." Castiel said firmly sounding genuinely upset. "This was supposed to be this great evening and all that has happened so far is Balthazar yelling at me…twice!"

"Twice?" Dean asked with a frown.

"He kind of freaked out earlier on when I told him I was spending the evening with you." Castiel said. That wasn't too surprising given the reaction Balthazar had given them in the bar.

"That's why you were upset earlier on?" Dean guessed.

"Yes…I guess so. He didn't time his first freak out so well. Then again I probably should have told him sooner so it's my own fault I guess." Castiel said as they reached the Impala. "I'm sorry this evening has been so shitty."

"Dude it's not even eight o'clock, the evening isn't over." Dean said. There was no way he was going to Victor's party with Castiel this upset but he did know somewhere that they could go. "I know where we can go. It's not crowded, the music will be awesome and a guarantee of no one yelling at you." he said with a smile.

"Really?" Castiel asked. "You haven't been completely freaked out by this evening so far?"

"Dude, it takes more than a pissed off Brit to scare me." Dean said snorting. "Come on, you can even pick the music again." He added. The smile Castiel gave him at the moment was even worse than his damn smirks. It was safe to say that he was going to be kissing Castiel Walsh by the end of the evening and he didn't care who knew that.


	3. Part Three

Part Three

They drove across the town in near silence, Castiel staring out the window as they neared Dean's house, and for a moment Dean was worried that Castiel was still upset over what had happened in the bar with Balthazar. Dean glanced over at Castiel and when he saw a smile on Castiel's lips his lightened slightly. As he was turning into his house, glad to see the driveway devoid of cars and Sam's bike, he saw Castiel's chest start to shake with a suppressed laugh.

"What's so funny?" Dean asked looking over at Castiel who started to laugh out loud with a look of disbelief on his face.

"You don't live here." Castiel said while looking up at the house.

"Of course I do, I've lived here all my life." Dean said shaking his head at Castiel's disbelief. "Why wouldn't I live here?" he asked glancing back at the house he'd always called home.

"No…it's just…" Castiel said looking flustered. "No forget it, it's really stupid." He quickly added.

"No tell me." Dean pressed because the look of awe on Castiel's face felt almost infectious.

"It's just that Balthazar and I drive past these houses all the time, it's really stupid though but that house, your house as it turns out, is my favourite on the block." Castiel said. He blushed furiously and ducked his head; Dean couldn't help but think it was the most adorable thing he'd seen in his whole damn life. "I can't believe you're the one who lives here…it would make sense though thinking about it." Castiel added glancing over at Dean and biting his lip. "That made me sound like a creepy stalker didn't it?"

"No, don't worry it doesn't." Dean said and he actually meant it. Hardly anyone in Dean's life appreciated the world they lived in, they didn't appreciate the things around them and seeing the look of awe on Castiel just reminded Dean yet of that. "Come on, we should have the house to ourselves."

"Your parents aren't in?" Castiel asked.

"Nah, they're out for dinner with the Talbots and my brother Sam is at his friend Kevin's house for the night." Dean said with a nonchalant shrug. Bela had been pissed at him when he told her he wasn't going to be at the dinner though he didn't tell her it was because he was going out with Cas. He'd told her that it was because he was behind with work and needed to study. It wasn't that he was ashamed of going anywhere with Cas, he just didn't want Cas to feel Bela's wrath. "Bela wasn't going to the party at Victor's house either; her parents said she needed to be at the dinner instead."

"Dean…are you sorry we didn't go to the party? Those people are your friends after all. If you had gone you wouldn't have ended up being yelled at by Balthazar in the middle of a bar."

"Believe it or not I was glad we didn't go to that party. Once you've been to one of those parties you've been to them all, they never really change." Dean said. Castiel chewed his lip again and a knot of worry settled in Dean's stomach. "I mean it Cas, I'd much prefer being with you then there." Dean said shifting in his seat so he was closer to Castiel than before. "Those parties are just full of the same people talking about the same things over and over again while they drink the same drinks they've always drunk. It becomes boring."

"Why?"

"Why what? Why does it become boring?"

"No, why do you prefer being with me? Up until this week you didn't even know me." Castiel pointed out. He was right, up until this week Dean didn't know Castiel but he had always wanted to get to know him. There had always been something intriguing about Castiel Walsh that made Dean want to know him. Maybe it was the fact that the guy looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and thrown on the nearest clothes he could find or how he never even attempted to fit in at school, he was going to be whoever he damn well pleased and he didn't seem to care if it pissed anyone off.

"You're right Cas but…but I don't have to pretend to be someone else when I'm around you because if I did you'd just call me an ass or something like that." Dean said. "I can just be myself around you." Dammit, if he couldn't be truthful with Cas right now then when could he be truthful?

"That's a real smooth line there Winchester." Castiel said.

"Hey it wasn't a line!" Dean cried shooting Castiel an affronted look.

"Sure sounded like one." Castiel said as a smirk crept across his face.

"I was trying to be sincere, don't ruin the moment dude!"

"We were having a moment?" Castiel asked. Dean groaned and rested his head against the steering wheel while Castiel chuckled loudly. "Come on then, stop pouting and show me Winchester Manor."

"Shut up Walsh." Dean shot back as Castiel chuckled again. God, Dean really didn't know what it was about Castiel but when Dean was around him he found that he could just relax and not have to try hard. Maybe it was because if he actually did try hard to be someone Castiel would see through it in an instant and no doubt he would senselessly ridicule Dean within an inch of his life.

He wasn't sure why he was so nervous walking into his own house but somehow Dean managed it. There was a strong possibility that it had something to do with Castiel being stood next to him and looking as though someone had pushed him out of that crappy little barn and straight into the land of Oz. Castiel's face quickly changed and his usual smirk replaced the look of awe.

"It's nice…kind of on the small side isn't it though?" he said nudging Dean's shoulder. Maybe it was the smirk, maybe it was the way nearly every word that came out of Castiel Walsh's mouth sounded sarcastic or maybe Dean was just really tired but in that moment he wanted to do nothing but kiss Castiel.

Instead he just said "Want to look around?"

"I didn't know tours of Winchester Manor ran this late. Is the tour guide being paid over time?"

"Very funny Walsh. You're in luck because you get a private tour." Dean said grinning right back. Castiel's eyebrows shot up at Dean's words.

"How very forward of you Winchester."

"It's only forward if you hear it as such Walsh." Dean shot back and revelling in the look on Castiel's face. In that moment he knew he'd won though he knew that if he dated Castiel Walsh that probably wouldn't happen very often.

"Well I have to work tomorrow so we probably won't be able to cover the whole house." Castiel remarked looking around the hallway.

"Dude it's not that big, it's only like four bedrooms." Dean said really a blush creep across his neck.

"Only four, how on earth do you manage?" Castiel muttered, the sarcasm ever present, but that small smile of amazement flittered across his face again making Dean want to smile as well.

"Come on Walsh, we'll skip the indoor tennis court and I'll show you my room." Dean said boldly taking Castiel's hand and leading him towards the staircase.

"Do you actually have an indoor tennis court?" Castiel asked not even making a remark about being led to Dean's room which Dean thought was surprising.

"Hell no, if we did it would be the least used place in the house." Dean said. As he led Castiel up the staircase he felt a thumb gently rub his hand making the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He didn't even care if the reaction was sappy, all he knew was that it was going to be a pain in the freaking ass letting go of Castiel's hand once this date was over. "My parents' room is on the other side of the house along with the guest room; I guess it was because Sammy and I used to make shitloads of noise when we were little so they shoved us on this side of the house. That way we could scream at each other and not wake anyone up." Dean heard himself explain. He had no idea why told Castiel that but the smiled he received from Castiel was totally worth it.

"Huh…guess I was right then." Castiel glanced looking around at the high ceiling.

"About?" Dean asked as he came to a stop outside his bedroom door.

"The acoustics…it's stupid but I always thought this house would have amazing acoustics."

"You have no idea. My parents went a second honeymoon last year; first vacation I think they've taken since they got married actually, so Sammy and I had the house pretty much to ourselves for two weeks. We could play our music as loud as we wanted to and no one could complain it. Hearing Zeppelin blast through the house while eating pancakes on a Saturday morning was awesome." Dean said grinning from ear to ear.

"You're a strange human Dean Winchester."

"Takes one to know one."

"Also immature with terrible come backs, I'm starting to question what on earth I see in you." Castiel muttered shaking his head.

"The answer to that is easy; I'm freakin' adorable." Dean said grinning widely.

"And not at all modest."

"Was that an insult or an agreement?"

"Show me your damn room Winchester." Castiel said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"Now who's being forward huh?" Dean said smirking at the fact that he'd managed to get one up on Castiel. He received an eye roll as a reply as he used his free hand to open his door. He sent out a silent prayer of thanks to his mother for badgering him the day before to clean his room; the floor was now visible and not covered in various shirts, books and records for once. He led Castiel into the room, flicking on the light as he did so and braced himself for whatever sarcastic comment would no doubt soon be coming out Castiel's mouth.

The room filled with a the soft glow from the lights and Dean leant against his desk as he watched Castiel's eyes raking over the walls which were covered in countless band and films posters. Most of the space in the room was taken up by large shelving that housed Dean's record collection, something that Castiel obviously noticed right away as the corners of his mouth curved upwards into a smile.

"Wow…so does Benny know that you have most of his store squirreled away in your room?" Castiel asked nodding towards the shelving. Dean felt the blush from earlier creep back up his neck but he was determined for Castiel not to see it, after all he was trying to seem like the cool one here. "You really are a record hoarder aren't you?" Castiel then asked looking over at the huge that housed most of Dean's records.

"I imagine your room looks exactly the same." Dean said shrugging. Knowing Castiel he was probably battling records for floor space like Sam battled with books.

"Oh yeah apart from the fact that it is probably the size of your closet…actually make that half the size of your closet." Castiel said shrugging. Panic shot through Dean, he'd probably just put his foot in it big time but Castiel smirked at him before he went back to looking around the room. "Not too shabby Winchester, not too shabby."

"I'm glad it meets your ridiculously high expectations." Dean said

"Well I was expecting crystal chandeliers and shit like that but this will do I guess." Castiel said sitting down on Dean's bed and Dean sent another prayer of thanks to his mother for also making Dean change his sheets and make his bed for once.

With a smile Dean brought the record out its sleeve and placed it onto his record player. After a few moments of crackling the music started up. Dean watched as a smile spread across Castiel's face and the knowledge that Dean had made him smile like that was an amazing feeling.

"Are you trying to butter me up with music?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Dean said feigning innocence. Knockin' On Heaven's Door filled the room and the same look Dean had seen in Trax appeared on Castiel's face, the look that was so carefree and happy it made Castiel look like a completely different person to the sullen person Dean used to think he was. "Is it working?"

"You're such an ass." Castiel muttered rolling his eyes heavily. It was amazing that he didn't give himself a headache by doing that all the time.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Dean said walking over where Castiel was sat. "I'm glad you said yes…you know…to coming out with me tonight." Dean added as he sat down next to Castiel and silently cursed himself for sounding like such an awkward idiot.

"Surprisingly so am I" Castiel said raising his eyebrows in what looked like disbelief. "I mean…I'm glad I came out with you tonight as well." Castiel added quickly ducking his head before he looked over and smiled at Dean.

Without even thinking about what he doing, or actually caring for once, Dean moved a stray piece of hair from Castiel's forehead and gently moved his hand until it cupped Castiel's jaw. Dean's heart was hammering against his chest like a jack hammer and he couldn't remember the last time anyone had elicited a reaction like this. For all his bravado he was terrified of fucking this up, Cas seemed like too much a great guy to be screwed around and, seeing as he was friends with Benny, Dean could easily be nursing staple gun wounds if he did screw up.

"Dean…" Castiel whispered pushing him away ever so slightly. Dean let out a small sigh and closed his eyes; he knew it had been too good to be true. "Look…if you're just doing this because you're bored and you want to do the whole 'trying something new' or 'experimenting' shit then please just tell me now because I'm not going to waste my time with someone like that." Castiel said firmly. Dean opened his eyes, his gaze flicking down to Castiel's lips then back up to towards his eyes.

"It's not like that Cas." Dean whispered back. He desperately hoped that Castiel believed him. Castiel frowned for a moment and Dean was filled with that dread that he'd said something wrong again.

"Then what is it like Dean?" Castiel asked biting down on his lip. He needed to stop doing that because whenever he did it made Dean's brain foggy.

"I said I could be myself around you and that's true…I like you Castiel, I like you a lot. I don't say that to people normally but with you…you don't take any of the crap others take and you don't deserve to be messed around with."

"Because I'm some fragile poor kid?" Castiel asked cocking an eyebrow. Fuck, this was not going the way Dean wanted it to go at all.

"No, it's because you're way better than everyone else." Dean said. "Please Cas, please believe me." He said lowering his voice as a breath hitched in his throat. Castiel looked at him, his blue eyes almost like beams boring into him, and Dean saw flickers of several emotions dancing across Castiel's face before he sighed and brought his lips to Dean's. Relief surged through Dean's body as he brought his hand up to cup Castiel's cheek. Castiel let out a small sigh, his mouth parting to let Dean's tongue flick over his teeth. A pool of pure happiness filled Dean's stomach as his other hand settled on Castiel's waist. He didn't care if they stayed like this forever; all he cared about was being with Castiel in that moment and really revelling in it.

This is real Dean told himself. This is real.

He wasn't even sure who started it but either way the pair of them were soon lying across Dean's bed, Cas rolling so Dean was lying with his back flat on the bed. As the hand that had been on Castiel's waist snaked up underneath his shirt, Castiel placed a hand gently on Dean's wrist.

"You're stupidly good looking, don't let that compliment go to your head or anything, but I'm not going to do anything like that on a first date. I'm a respectable gentleman." Cas chuckled. He placed a quick kiss on Dean's lips before rolling off him and lay down next to Dean. Turning his head so he could see Castiel, Dean sat and watched him lying there as the song playing slowly transitioned to the next. His hand scrabbled at the bed covers until he found Castiel's hand. He laced his fingers through Castiel's and just lay there watching a smile spread slowly across Castiel's face.

They lay there, the music fading from song to song, just talking about anything that came to their minds for quite some time. Dean found himself telling Cas about all the stupid things he used to do when he was younger like how the tiny scar on his chin was from when he was nine years old and thought it was a good idea to use a pillow to toboggan down his stairs. He had promptly split his chin over when he hit the floor and had to put up with an itchy bandage until his chin had healed. He told Cas about the first time he kissed a guy, it had been at gig in Wichita the previous year, how confused he'd been afterwards and how the only person he'd told had been Sam.

In return Cas told him about how his mother had walked out on him and his dad when he was fourteen and how he missed her every single day despite knowing fully well that she wasn't coming back. He told Dean about how he wanted nothing more than to leave Kansas as soon as he graduated so he could be away from his father. Dean watched as Castiel explained how he'd always felt like an outsider at school because of being a scholarship student and how one of his biggest fears was everyone at school finding out just how close they'd come in succeeding to break him. Dean realised this was why Castiel was so closed off with most people, why he used sarcasm as a safety blanket because if he didn't then maybe that fear would become true.

They lay there talking long after record had finished, their voices filling up the silence the music left. Dean's hand never left Castiel's and as far as he was concerned he was content with never actually letting go. That thought was scary, it would mean facing up to a lot of people that wouldn't agree with the person Dean could easily see him falling for, but comforting because maybe, just maybe, Castiel felt the same way and that was why he was being so open with Dean.

Neither of them realised it was nearing midnight until they heard the old clock, inherited from Dean's grandfather on his mother's side, down in the hallway chime. Dean sat up, still not letting go of Castiel's hand, and gave Castiel a poke in the side with his free hand.

"It's getting kind of late, do you want me to drive you back home?" Dean offered.

"You can drop me of at Trax, I left my car in the parking lot and I could do with it."

"Are you sure? It's pretty late."

"Yeah, I have work tomorrow and it's a pain walking through downtown on a Sunday morning with all the damn alternative artists clogging up the sidewalk on their way to brunch." Castiel said making it clear that he was going to be dropped off at Trax if Dean liked it or not.

"As long as you're sure." Dean said with a smile. Finally letting go of Castiel's hand he pulled on the jacket he'd long since taken off and made sure the keys to the Impala were safely in his pocket. He watched as Castiel put his own jacket on and gave him a quick smile. "Ready?" Dean asked.

"Lead the way Winchester." Castiel said reaching out for Dean's hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The parking lot to Trax was deserted except for Castiel's car when they drove up. Honestly the brunch loving artists didn't annoy Castiel that much but he just couldn't stand the thought of Dean seeing his crappy two bedroom house after he found out where Dean lived. They'd kept up a steady conversation in the car but now that they were here in the dark, terribly lit parking lot both Castiel and Dean fell silent. Castiel coughed, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't sound highly awkward.

"Um…thanks for tonight." He finally said. "I had a really good time."

"You sure?"

"Believe me, I'd tell you if I hadn't." Castiel said rolling his eyes. Dean smiled and hopped out the car, hurrying around the car to Castiel's door before he'd even had a chance to open it. "Smooth."

"I try my best." Dean said with a shrug. "I had a good time too, thanks for agreeing to come out with me."

"Yeah…I can safely say that you've changed my opinion of you." Castiel said as he climbed out the car. The dumb smile that Dean gave him in return was actually ridiculous.

"Really?"

"Yeah, don't let that go to your head though." Castiel quickly shot back just so he could see that small look of exasperation that would flit across Dean's face whenever Castiel was remotely mocking towards him. "I guess I'll see you Monday then Winchester." He added with a small smirk. Instead of saying anything Dean just rolled his eyes and pulled Castiel into a quick kiss before giving him a smirk of his own. Ok Castiel had to admit that actually was kind of smooth though he'd never let Dean know that. Instead he just gave the other boy a smile as he headed over to his car not even caring how goofy the damn smile looked.

His house was in near darkness as Castiel pulled into the driveway. This wasn't a surprise at all seeing as it was after midnight, what was a surprise was that the living room light was still on. Either his father was still awake or he had been so drunk earlier on in the evening that he had forgotten to turn the lights off before he had passed out. Either way Castiel dreaded opening the front door.

"Dad?" He asked warily as he walked through the front door. As he walked into the living room he saw that his father was sat on the sinking couch, an empty glass sat on the coffee table which had no doubt been full of whiskey earlier on in the evening. "Dad?" Castiel said uncertainly.

"Oh...there you are…where have you been?" his father asked looking up from his glass.

"I was out with a friend." Castiel said trying to gage his father's sobriety, if he was remotely sober that was. "I told you the other night I was going out." Castiel added though he knew his father probably didn't remember half the things Castiel said to him.

"Oh…was it just a friend?" His father asked. As an afterthought Castiel realised that he'd walked into that one. His father knew that the only people Castiel ever spent any time with were Balthazar or Benny so going out with 'a friend' was up there with his mother coming home on the 'unlikely' scale. "Castiel? Was it just a friend?" his father pressed.

There had been a few tense months when Castiel had come out to Charles Walsh when he was fifteen years old. There had been raging arguments up until the point where it was clear that Castiel had been ready to leave home. Both Balthazar and Benny had offered him a place to stay and it wasn't until he had his bags packed that his father finally began to accept who Castiel wanted to date.

The whole thing between him and Dean was new and he didn't really feel like explaining it to his father when there was a very big change his father would mock him for it. "Um...well he started out as a friend I guess." Castiel said vaguely.

"Huh…what's his name?" Charles asked.

"Dean. Dean Winchester." Castiel said nervously waiting for what his father was going to say.

"Prom date worthy?"

"Very funny Dad." Castiel said with a sigh.

"Where did you go?" Charles then asked almost nonchalantly.

"Um...to the Roadhouse." Castiel said thrown off by his father's casual attitude.

"Did you have a good time?" The entire conversation with his father was all throwing Castiel for a loop, making him incredible uncomfortable and causing him to wish he were anywhere but his living room in that moment.

"Yeah...yeah I did...did you have a good night?" Castiel asked warily as he looked over at the empty glass on the table. Charles looked at the glass and quickly moved it away. "How many of those have you had tonight Dad?" Castiel asked with a sigh

"None...there's not a drop in the house." Charles said bitterly. There had been a full bottle of whiskey in the kitchen cupboard just four days ago. Castiel closed his eyes for a second in order to resist the urge to throw something at his father.

"Great…just great." Castiel muttered just as bitterly as his father had sounded. Charles looked up at him with eyes full of a sort of weary sorrow and sighed deeply.

"I'm trying Castiel…I'm trying." Charles said desperately but Castiel just raised a hand to silence him. He had heard all this before from his father and there really was nothing his father could say anymore; nothing he could say would change the fact that they went through the same battles day in and day out.

"You've been 'trying' ever since she left." Castiel snapped though he knew that was a low blow. Despite her leaving Castiel knew that Charles was still in love with his mother and bringing her up probably wouldn't help his father's mood in the slightest.

"Castiel-"

Castiel sighed heavily and shook his head. "No Dad, I had a really good time out tonight and I'm tired so let's not get into this right now." He said. "I'm going to bed."

"I'm sorry Castiel"

"Dad I mean, not tonight." Castiel said sternly. "You should get to sleep too, its past midnight." He added as he stomped out the living. He didn't wait to hear his father's reply, he wasn't even sure if he even wanted to hear it anyway so he just on towards his bedroom and shut the door behind him. Moments later the silence of his room was interrupted by the telephone by his bed ringing shrilly.

"Hello?" Castiel said thinking for a wild moment that it might be Balthazar calling to apologise. That was highly unlikely though as Balthazar was as stubborn as a damn mule.

"Cas…hey" It was Dean. Castiel sunk onto his bed with a smile as he realised he was glad to hear Dean's voice despite only hearing it twenty minutes prior. "I know it's late and this is kinda stupid but I wanted to make sure you got home ok." Dean said with a nervous sounding chuckle.

"Yes, I got home just fine." Castiel said. "It's actually very sweet of you to call asking that."

"Actually it's gallant and very manly." Dean shot back sounding smug.

"You keep telling yourself that Winchester" Castiel said with a small laugh.

"Hey, stop trying to ruin my moments. They don't happen very often so you better savour them up."

"Well that's a fine way of convincing me to date you there isn't it?" Castiel asked knowing full well that he was succeeding in riling Dean up. It was rather childish but he actually enjoyed it greatly.

"Do I have you convinced?" Dean asked.

"I'll let you know, we wouldn't want that ego of yours inflating even more so do we?" Castiel said smirking to himself. Yes, it really was childish but riling Dean up really was too easy and too amusing.

"Thanks for that Walsh...I guess I'll see you on Monday at school." Dean said. "Goodnight Cas." He added in a low voice that sent a shiver through Castiel's body. Damn, maybe Dean knew how to rile up Castiel as well.

"Goodnight Dean, I'll see you on Monday." Castiel said smiling to himself as he hung up the phone.

On the Sunday Balthazar never came into the store even though he spent most Sunday's there hiding from his mother. Benny didn't have a lot to see on the matter apart from telling Castiel that once he and Dean had Balthazar had gotten incredibly drunk and promise never to come into Trax again, or at least until Castiel stopped working there.

"He's really that upset?" Castiel asked between restocking the shelves.

"He was just pissed you brought Winchester to the Roadhouse I'm guessing, he'll get over." Benny said with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

Maybe Benny gave Balthazar more credit than he deserved though. When Castiel rang him that evening his mother said that Balthazar was too busy to come to the phone and he would ring Castiel in the morning. He didn't, it was obvious he wouldn't, and when Castiel walked to his locker on Monday morning Balthazar wasn't there waiting for him. Balthazar had always been there in the morning, ever since they had started high school - ever since they had started middle school really and for him not to be there made it just that more clear that Balthazar was still angry with Castiel. Castiel looked down the hallways for his best friend, well the person he thought was his best friend but Balthazar was nowhere to be seen.

He knew that he'd hurt Balthazar on Saturday night but they were best friends, whatever happened between them they could work though…at least that was what Castiel hoped would happen. After all Balthazar forgave him for the time Castiel dared him to eat dirt, if they could get past dirt then they could get past this.

A flash of neon socks caught Castiel's eye and he spotted Balthazar hurrying down the hallway.

"Balthazar! Balth wait!" Castiel called.

"I'm going to be late for English." Balthazar snapped. He'd never cared about being late for English in the past; in fact most of his detentions were because he regularly skipped English class because, as he said, his teacher was a fascist old dinosaur.

"Balth please." Castiel practically begged. "I'm sorry about Saturday night-"

"Shouldn't you be with Lover Boy right now? Or is he too chicken shit to be around you at school?" Balthazar snapped giving Castiel a scathing look. "Your silence speaks for itself." Balthazar muttered as he pushed past Castiel. Without saying another word Balthazar stormed down the hallway leaving Castiel standing alone by his locker. A horrible uneasy feeling settled in Castiel's stomach as he watched his best friend marching down the hallway, bright neon socks and all.

"Cas? Cas?"

"Huh…what?" Castiel asked. Dean was stood in front of him, hands in his jeans pockets and a worried expression on his face.

"Is Balthazar still not talking to you?" Dean asked glancing down the hallway. Castiel shook his head. "You two will work it out, don't worry."

"Really? Because I've known Balthazar since I was little and I know what he's like. When he's in a mood he's in a mood for at least a good two weeks, I doubt he's going to talk to me anytime soon and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have shouted at him-"

"Cas you need to calm down." Dean said softly. "You and Balthazar will sort things out once he realises that he was an ass on Saturday night."

"Dean you don't understand, we've been friends since we were little…I mean we've ate lunch together since middle school unless he's got detention. Knowing that he won't spend time with me because he's mad at me is horrible." Castiel said

"I know I'm not Balthazar but how about you have lunch with me?"

"In the cafeteria?" Castiel asked warily. He hadn't eaten in there for years and even if he did want to spend lunchtime with Dean he really didn't want to sit in the damn cafeteria or try to make small talk with Dean's friends.

"No, don't worry I wouldn't subject you to that. I'm going off campus for lunch today, my brother Sam report card was pretty much a bunch of A's so I'm treating him…do you want to come with us?"

"For lunch with you and your brother?" Castiel asked. Dean had mentioned that he had a younger brother called Sam who was in middle and Castiel knew they were close. Dean asking him to lunch was probably a huge thing.

"Yeah…you don't have to if you don't want to but I thought it would be better than sitting in the courtyard by yourself and I wanted to have lunch with you and-"

"I want to go with you." Castiel said quickly trying so hard not smile because they were stood in the middle of a pretty crowded hallway. Dean seemed to forget this completely was a huge smile spread across his face.

"Great! How about I meet you by my car at the start of lunch? We can pick up Sammy then go to this awesome diner near here that makes bitchin' burgers. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds really good…thanks." Castiel said sincerely.

Dean's brow furrowed "For what? Lunch?" he asked.

"No…for wanting to cheer me up."

"Why wouldn't I want to cheer you up?" Dean asked. "I said on Saturday that I liked you and I want to spend time with you so I'd obviously want to cheer you up. I need to get to Physics, if I'm late again then my ass is gonna be on a plate." Dean said reaching out and giving Castiel's arm a squeeze. "I'll see you at lunch then." He added with another smile. He hurried off down the hallway leaving Castiel to smile to himself not even caring who saw him because Dean Winchester was sometimes arrogant and easy to irritate but damn it, Castiel really liked him.

"Yo! Winchester!" Victor called as Dean nearest the main door. He was meeting Cas in less than two minutes and he didn't have time for this. "Winchester, where you off to?"

"I'm taking Sammy into town for lunch, in fact I'm picking him up in a minute so I better get going." Dean said shuffling his feet nervously because he hated the thought of Cas stood by his waiting for Dean and thinking that Dean was standing him up.

"Listen, was that you talking to that Walsh kid this morning?" Victor asked.

"Huh?"

"This morning, I saw you talking to that weird Walsh kid. I didn't even know that you knew him."

"Well yeah, I guess that we're friends and he's not weird Vic, he's actually pretty cool." Dean said defensively. Ok it might have been a partial lie, the 'friends' part that was, but it was easier to tell Victor than the whole truth.

"Really?" Victor asked incredulously.

"Yeah Vic he is, look I need to go or Sammy's free pass for lunch will go wasted."

"Sure Winchester…whatever." Victor said giving Dean a strange look. Dean just stared him down until Victor shrugged his shoulders and walked off. With a sigh Dean opened the door and hurried off in the direction of the parking lot. By the time he got to his car and saw Cas leaning on the bonnet with a huge smile on his face the whole conversation with Victor was forgotten.

"Ready to go?" Dean asked. Castiel nodded and his grin widened.

"Yeah, though are you sure your brother won't mind me crashing you lunch?" Castiel asked. Dean chuckled to himself. He'd told Sammy about the date on Saturday night after Sunday brunch; that was mainly because Dean had been fighting a goofy smile throughout brunch and, according to Sam, he never smiled during brunch. Sam was actually pretty happy for him and really wanted to meet Cas.

"Cas he really won't mind at all. He wants to meet you so stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying…though maybe I should have worn cleaner shoes." He said looking down at his dirty high tops.

"Oh believe me, Sammy won't care about that at all." Dean said fighting back a loud laugh as he and Cas climbed into the car.

Sam was waiting in the parking lot of his school, lunch pass in his hand, when Dean pulled up. The huge smile on his face never left; if possible it got even wider when Dean introduced him to Castiel. Sam kept up a string of questions all the way to the diner which should have annoyed anyone, heck it annoyed Dean, but Castiel seemed to take it all in his stride and even made Sam laugh several times. By the time they got to the diner it was clear that Sam was a big fan of Castiel's and that made everything a lot easier.

The diner was a tiny place near downtown that Den had been taking Sam to since the kid was old enough to cycle through the town. Years had had been spent there eating ice cream, drinking impossibly thick milkshakes and devouring the best burgers in the whole state. Every report card, aced test or prize winning essay meant a trip there.

No one had ever joined them on these trips, after all they were purely for Sam but Dean knew that if anyone was to ever come with them then it would be Cas. If he wanted it to work with Cas, and he really did, and he had to see how easily Cas could slip into his life; the part of Dean's life that was important to him that was, that part mainly included Sam.

Once inside Dean ordered for the three off them, cheeseburgers with everything despite Sam's bitch face. The kid could pout all he wanted but Dean knew how much these trips meant to Sam so he could stay off the rabbit food for one day.

For about ten seconds Dean was worried that after the constant questions in the car Cas and Sam wouldn't have anything to talk to but it turned out both of them had read the same books and the look of excitement on Cas' face when it turned out Sam shared his views on Catcher in the Rye was completely infectious. Dean found himself smiling along with the two nerds and marvelling that Cas hadn't made a single remotely sarcastic comment since he'd been introduced to Sam.

When Cas excused himself to go to the bathroom Dean had his hands up in mock defeat and winced at Sam. "Ok let's hear it." He said preparing himself for whatever Sam was going to say.

"So he's the guy you went out with on Saturday?" Sam asked drowning a fry in ketchup. Dean nodded waiting with baited breath for whatever Sam was going to say. "He's seems pretty awesome to me...what the hell does he see in you?"

"Honestly? I haven't a freakin' clue." Dean said shaking his head because knowing that Sam liked Cas was one less hurdle he would have to go over.

"Don't screw it up." Sam said.

"How would I screw it up?" Dean asked though he knew at least twenty ways he could do that.

"I could give a list of at least thirty different ways just off the top of my head." Sam said before throwing a fry into his mouth.

"I could only think of twenty." Dean said with a frown.

"Yeah well I'm more creative than you are." Sam said with a shrug. "I mean it Dean, he seems pretty awesome and like he won't take any of your sh-trash so don't fu-mess it up."

"Nice save there kid." Dean said rolling his eyes. His brother was getting a worse mouth on him than he was.

"I'm glad you like him." He added giving Sam a smile.

"Wow, he's turning you into such a sap."

"Yeah but don't tell him that, I want him to still think I'm cool."

"I've never thought you were cool Dean so there are no worries there." Castiel said sliding back into his seat back to Dean. Sam hooted with laughter while Dean gave Cas a dig in the side. Cas returned by giving Dean's thigh a firm squeeze and Dean was immensely grateful Sam didn't see that though it was pretty clear that the kid didn't miss the grin that crept onto Dean's face. As far as meeting family went it was clear that Cas got ten out of ten.

"Thank you for this. It really helped in cheering me up." Cas said as they dropped Sam off at school. Dean watched Sam walk across the parking lot towards his school before turning back to give Castiel a huge smile. The sincerity in Castiel's voice sent jolts down Dean's spine. He reached out for Castiel's hand, not even giving a shit if it was girly or not, and held onto it. "So, do I pass the test?" Castiel asked cocking an eyebrow as Dean held onto his hand.

"Huh?"

"With Sam?" Cas asked because the guy was a genius like that and probably guess right away that no one had ever joined him and Sam for lunch before.

"Yeah...yeah you passed." Dean said. "Though I'm shocked you were able to sit through a whole meal without one mocking comment."

"I was on my best behaviour." Cas said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It may come as a surprise but I actually wanted Sam to like me, not just because he's your brother but because I think he's a great kid. I can see why you're so proud of him."

"Yeah...yeah I am proud of him. He likes you; he thinks you're kind of awesome actually. Don't let that go to your head though." Dean said nudgeing Cas with his elbow.

"Clearly he's right about that." Cas said and the damn smirk was back in full force.

"As modest as always." Dean muttered derisively.

"You wouldn't like me any other way." Cas said. "We should be heading back...to school."

"Yeah...I guess we should be." Dean said though he had no desire to get out the car, no desire to see Cas walk away from towards whatever class he had after lunch. "So…I guess there was something that I wanted to ask you and you can say no because it was just an idea but I was thinking about it when we at lunch..."

"It would help if you told me what the idea was." Cas pointed out. Dammit, why was this making Dean so flustered? He was Dean Winchester, he didn't get flustered over this sort of thing, ever, so why did it have to happen now with Castiel of all people?

"Ok smartass." Dean grumbled. "Ok…so it's lame as hell and you probably weren't even planning on going because the music will be shit and the food will taste like rubber and you'd have to wear a stupid suit-"

"Are you asking me to be your prom date?" Cas asked cutting Dean off mid-sentence. Dean nodded, not even daring to say anything because there was a very high chance that Cas was about to mock him until next year. However, when he looked over to the passenger seat, he saw that Cas had the stupidest smile on his face. "You want to go with me to the prom?"

"Like I said it's stupid and the music-" Dean started to say before Cas cut him off with a kiss that, and he'd never admit this to anyone, pretty much took all the breath out of his lungs. He moulded into the kiss, his pulse racing as Cas slid a hand under his shirt and splayed his fingers across Dean's stomach. "I'm taking this as a yes." Dean said with a shaky breath as Cas kissed along his jawline and down his neck until he came to the sliver of collarbone that Dean's shirt exposed. It was getting pretty hard to focus and Dean was well aware that they needed to get be back on campus in ten minutes. As Cas' hand travelled lower down Dean's stomach that thought was promptly pushed to the back of his mind.

"You can most definitely take that as a 'yes' Dean." Cas said breathily into his ear. Ok that was, the heat that had been slowly building up in Dean's stomach all but exploded as he desperately sought after Cas' mouth to try and regain some control, if he'd had any in the first place. "Do I really have to wear a suit though?" Cas asked gravelly pulling away for a moment.

"You won't have to wear it for long." Dean said gruffly already missing Cas' lips against his own.

"Is that an invitation or a promise?" Cas asked raising an eyebrow expertly. If that send pang down to Dean's stomach, and several other places really, then Dean didn't know what would. If the thought of Cas in a suit was doing things to his brain then the thought of Cas out of the suit was on a whole other level. Dean chuckled, mainly because he didn't trust himself not to lower the tone even more so with a reply, and brought Cas' lips back to his own. Cas' hand was dangerously close to the waist band of his boxers now and it really took all of Dean's willpower to not suggest ditching the rest of school. He would have happily sat in the Impala making out with Cas all day if he could.

"It's whatever you want it to be" Dean finally said. "And this is probably the hottest thing to ever happen in this car but it's nearly the end of lunch." He added. Cas groaned and buried his head into Dean's neck.

"Fine…I have a paper to hand in anyway." Cas said sighing heavily before he slid back into his seat and fastened his seat belt. "You're going to be the death of me Dean Winchester one day."

"Hopefully not anytime soon." Dean said and he really didn't care if that sounded like an overly 'couple' thing to say. He had to face that Cas was the first person to make him feel like himself in a long time and, sure, down the line they would have to deal with people's opinions but for now Dean was just happy with being in Cas' company and that's what really mattered.


	4. Part Four

**Part Four**

Wednesdays always dragged at work, maybe it was because it was mid-week but they always did, and normally Castiel didn't mind because he could sit completing his homework or reading but he'd finished all his homework that lunchtime, despite having Dean sat with him trying to distract him.

"Dean stop it; I'm trying to write this English essay here and you're not helping." He'd said after Dean had flicked yet another French fry at him that lunchtime. They were sat outside in the courtyard and Dean was clearly trying his best to get Castiel to pay attention to him. "I swear you're secretly five years old."

"Please, I'm the manliest manly mature guy you know." Dean said.

"Flick one more fry at me and you'll regret it." Castiel said warningly because the last fry had scarcely missed his essay and he doubted he'd get extra marks for having ketchup smears in the margins.

"What will you do, huh Walsh?" Dean said smirking from where he was laid across the steps, his boot clad feet nudging Castiel's thigh. He raised his eyebrow suggestively as he picked up another fry from the basket resting on his stomach. Castiel looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun filtering on courtyard and gave Dean a devilish grin.

"I could start with leaving your ass high and dry for prom then I could become very creative in ways of getting you banned from Trax."

"You wouldn't dare, you'd miss me too much."

"What, from prom or Trax? Because you certainly weren't any help on Monday night when you spent the whole time sat in my chair miming all the words to Stairway to Heaven. Complete with scarily accurate air guitar action." Castiel said rolling his eyes as he returned to his essay. "Though kissing you in the backseat of your car after work was a highlight of the evening." He added smirking to himself as he watched Dean grow red in his peripheral vision.

"See, you'd miss me." Dean said trying to sound smug despite his blush. Castiel could see him taking aim with the damn fry.

"Dean Winchester if you throw that freaking French fry at me then I will castrate you if my ballpoint pen and that you will most certainly miss." Castiel said threatening as he pointed his pen it Dean's crotch. Dean hastily dropped the fry. "That's what I thought." Castiel had said smugly returning to his essay.

"Anyone in there kid?" Benny called. Castiel jolted in his chair and dropped the notebook he'd been doodling in. "Stop daydreamin' about that boyfriend of yours." He added giving Castiel a nudge on his arm. "If you're writin' 'Mr Castiel Winchester-Walsh' in there surrounded by a bunch of hearts then I'm never gonna let you live it down." He added.

"It worries me that you'd think I'd do that."

"Love does crazy things brother. I once wore a floral shirt 'cause Andrea said she thought it would look good on me." Benny said. Castiel nearly fell off his seat as he laughed over the mental image of Benny in a floral shirt. He really hoped that Andrea had taken pictures. "Laugh it up kid, laugh it up." Benny added shaking his head. "I'll make you clean the store floor with a toothbrush if you don't quit laughing. And no, Andrea didn't take any photos so don't bother asking her."

"Sorry man" Castiel said still having to clutch his side as he tried to stop laughing. He noticed a small frown appear on Benny's face. "What's wrong?"

"I was just wonderin' if you've spoken to Balthazar…since the other day." Benny said cautiously.

"I'm not really…I tried on Monday but he really doesn't want to talk to me. I think I'm just going to have to give him some time to get used to Dean and I being together. We've been friends for long…he's got to get over this right?"

"Probably but just be kind alright kid? According to him he laid himself on the line and you shot him down. Shit like that has gotta hurt." Benny said shrugging his broad shoulders.

"I suppose you're right…" Castiel said sighing. "Hey Benny…did you go to your prom?" he asked after a few moments. It had been a few days since Dean had asked him to the prom and, honestly, he was still trying to get used to it. Prom had never been high up on his list of things he'd willing wanted to do, he doubted it would even make the top hundred, but going with Dean…well that was something he could get on board with.

"Back in high school? Yeah, I saved up all the money I made from my weekend job to buy a suit and Andrea the fanciest corsage I could afford. It was cheesy as hell and the music was the worst crap ever played but Andrea loved it, she still has the goofy posed picture we had taken sitting on our mantel." Benny said. "Sure it was stupid but apparently you regret not going, one of Andrea's friends never went to her prom and she still goes on about it."

"I'm going you know…to the prom…"

"You...what?" Benny said looking utterly perplexed by the mere thought that Castiel would even think about stepping foot anywhere near his school's prom. He really did have good reason to though seeing as Castiel had avoided every major dance his school had thrown since he was a freshman.

"Yeah, that would have been my reaction too about two weeks ago if you said that I'd be going to prom…with Dean Winchester of all people."

"Winchester actually asked you to go to the prom?"

"Yeah…I met his brother at lunch on Monday and he asked me afterwards."

"You were here all Monday evening and you never mentioned it? Kid I'm insulted."

Castiel picked up his notebook from where he'd dropped it and shrugged his shoulders. "You were too busy threatening Dean with the staple gun if he put his feet up on the counter to really listen." He said smirked at the terrified look Dean had worn for several minutes after Benny had aimed the staple gun at his crotch.

"You got a point there kid, though it serves the guy right for putting those boots of his on the furniture. You'd think he was brought up in a barn not in that fancy house of his." Benny said with a shrug before he started laughing loudly.

"What?" Castiel asked but it took at least three minutes before Benny stopped laughing. "What Benny?"

"Oh I'm just imagining you trying to buy a suit."

"Fuck my life." Castiel groaned letting his head hit the desk.

"That's what you get for agreeing to go to prom. Oh and if you hear the words 'spotlight dance' then I'd run in the other direction."

"I think both Dean and I would be running from a damn spotlight dance." Castiel mumbled into the desk as he just tried to imagine Dean's face at the suggestion of dancing under a spotlight to cheesy dance music. Actually the priceless look on his face might prove an awful lot of entertainment. "I've still got to get a freaking suit from somewhere though, preferably one that doesn't cost a thing because I used up all of this month's wages on rent and electricity." He added with yet another groan.

"I've still got mine somewhere; Andrea kept it for 'sentimental value'. I've seen you patch up enough of your shirts to know you're handy with sewing machine."

"It was that or I'd have to bake muffins for eleven weeks back in ninth grade."

"Well you can have my suit, alter it and all."

"I don't know Benny." Castiel said rising from his chair. "There's only so much I can do with a throw back from the fifties." He said quickly hurrying clear across the store and away from Benny's staple gun range.

"Yeah you better run kid, you better run." Benny called. Castiel smirked to himself but he knew that Benny would get back to him later on by making him alphabetise the whole store again. Thank God he was seeing Dean that were getting dinner together at one of the small diners near Trax before Castiel drove home. He still hadn't let Dean see his house, really he wasn't sure if he wanted to, and he was perfectly fine with that. He knew Dean wouldn't mock him for where he lived but that didn't mean that Castiel was open about his home lifestyle. Yes he was hiding but hopefully Dean would forgive him for that.

It was safe to say that Dean hated Sundays with a passion. There was never anything on TV and his parents always dragged him to the fucking country club for brunch. Dean wasn't sure who invented brunch but he had a strong desire to track them down and beat them repeatedly.

There were about seventy thousand other things he would rather being doing, most of them either involving sleeping, eating or working on the Impala, than driving up the stupidly long driveway and letting some valet park his car. The main reason why he actually agreed to go to brunch was because Mary and John let him and Sam drive there separately.

"It's like they try to make Sunday even shittier by adding over cooked eggs and Mr Talbot telling the same golfing joke eleven times." Dean grumbled to Sam as they walked into the large conservatory that would probably kill someone if they walked in there with a hangover. "It's too early for this shit." He added with a groan as he saw the Winchester's regular table.

"Probably shouldn't have been out half the night with Cas." Sam said smugly.

"Shut up Sam." Dean grumbled.

"Mum asked me who you were out with. When are you going to tell her and dad about Cas?" Sam asked wiping imaginary dust from his polo shirt.

"I don't know…we've been seeing each for what…a week?"

"Yeah but you really like him, you asked him to go to the prom with you after all." Sam pressed.

"Sam can we not talk about this right now? The only people that really know about me and Cas are you, Cas' boss who owns Trax and his best friend…I know it's stupid but I kind of want to keep it like that for the moment."

"Why? Are you worried about what Mom or Dad would say? Because Mom-"

"No…I'm not worried about what they would say but…look it's new with Cas and I don't want to mess it up."

"You're going to have to tell them about prom sooner or later."

"Yeah well I choose later so shut up about it. I could have easily of stayed in bed for another three hours or so."

"Should have gone to sleep then instead of making out with Cas in the back of your car."

"How the hell do you know that we were making out in the car?"

"I didn't, now I do. I hope you cleaned the seats."

"Gross Sam." Dean grumbled as they pulled up into Lawrence Country Club's parking lot. Dean spotted his father's car so their parents were probably already sat down drinking coffee and pretending that Mr Talbot's story about his latest golfing trip was fascinating. "Come on, the sooner we get in there the sooner we can leave." Dean said killing the engine and praying to whoever would listen that brunch would go without a hitch.

Whoever had been listening to Dean's prayers had a sick sense of humour. Or maybe they were just an asshole.

It had started out alright. Dean sat down at the table his parents and the Talbots always occupied. Bela gave him a friendly wave while Victor, who was sat next to Bela, shot him a smirk. Dean poke his overcooked omelette like he did every Sunday and wished for the millionth time that brunch could be served with beer not just coffee. Maybe beer would make Mrs Talbot's 'epic tale' of how she found the perfect dress for Bela to wear for the prom remotely interesting. Mentioning the prom really wasn't the best thing for Mrs Talbot to do as it made Mary sit to attention and tap Dean's arm.

"Oh Dean, you remember your father's business friend Robert Singer don't you?" Mary asked in between sips of tea. Dean nodded; Robert, who pretty much told everyone to call him Bobby, taught Dean how to change a tire when he six years old. "Well he's coming up for a visit next week with his wife Ellen and their daughter Jo, you remember her don't you?" Dean vaguely remembered a blonde girl around the same age as him back when he was about eight but that was it.

"Um kind of." Dean said prodding his omelette again.

"Well they'll be staying with us for the week and seeing as there over the same weekend as the prom I thought it would a nice idea for you to take Jo, you two could catch up and everything." Mary said. From his seat Sam snorted loudly and the only reason that Dean didn't kick him was because there was a chance he'd accidentally kicked his father instead.

"That's a nice idea Mom but-"

"Because I remember you saying the other week that you hadn't asked anyone to go with you." Mary said blithely.

"Mom I sort of asked someone..." Dean said looking down at his cutlery and wondering which one would cause Sam the most amount of pain seeing as the little shit was still snorting into his hand.

"Really?" Both Mary and Bela said in unison. "Who?" Mary asked.

"Yeah Victor said that you were going by yourself, alpha male and all." Bela said from her seat down the table. "Who is it? It's not Lisa is it because I heard-"

"It's not Lisa." Dean said finally kicking Sam because the snorting was getting out of control.

"Ow! What was that for?" Sam grumbled loudly.

"Dean don't kick your brother at brunch." Mary said wearily. "Now who are you going to prom with?"

"Um." Dean said wishing that the ground would swallow him whole. He could lie, make up the name of a random girl, but he could just picture Cas' face if he found out Dean had done that. He could see the look of hurt in those stupidly blue eyes and it killed him. He couldn't do that to Cas, he liked him too much. "His name is Castiel." Dean said firmly hoping that his voice didn't give away just how freakish nervous he was. The reaction from the table was as expected.

"His?"

"Castiel? As in Castiel Walsh?"

"Whoa."

"His?" John asked turning to look at his son with a frown mixed with a hint of confusion. It was that look that sent a wave of nausea to Dean's stomach. There was no way he'd be able to sit through this when John was looking at him like that.

"Excuse me, thank you for brunch." Dean said quickly rising from his chair. Several people stood up to stop him but he just carried on walking out the conservatory. The sound of heels clacking against the marble flooring grew steadily louder.

"Dean will you stop storming off so quickly? Kitten heels were not made for running I'll have you know." A very annoyed sounding Bela said.

"Then stop following me." Dean shot back. Bela huffed loudly and sped up until she was next to Dean.

"So…Castiel Walsh? Really?" Bela asked grabbing onto Dean's arm.

"If you're going to say some shit about Cas then I really don't want to hear because he gets it enough at school." Dean snapped.

"I wasn't going to say anything about him, why would I? I barely know him to make an assumption about him."

"Well then you're a better person than half the people at school."

"Oh please, I've known that since orientation day." Bela said flippantly. "So that's why you never asked me to go with you to the prom? Because you're, what, gay?"

"You thought I would ask you?" Dean asked as he frown as he tried to think of a time when he'd ever given Bela cause to think he would ask her to the prom.

"We're friends aren't we? I didn't think you'd ask some random girl but I did think that you might ask a friend." Bela said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Bela I didn't ask you because Victor likes you, that's why he asked to go with him. It has nothing to do with who I'm dating."

"So you're dating him? You're dating a scholarship student that most people mock on daily basis?"

"Bela stop it."

"And what, you thought you could just turn up at prom with him? Like people wouldn't judge and mock you because of it? How stupid are you Dean?" Bela said shaking her head.

"Bela I mean it-"

"I'm not saying this to be a bitch or to be cruel to you; I'm saying this because it's true." Bela said pointedly.

"Bela shut up and let me go home." Dean snapped tearing his arm out of Bela's grip and marching through the entrance hall of the country club. He practically flung himself into the Impala and bashed his head against the steering wheel. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He yelled. Ok that hadn't gone well in the slightest and there was a chance that Dean was going to develop a huge headache thanks to bashing his head against the nearest thing to hand. He sat like that for several minutes until the passenger side door opened. Dean really hoped it wasn't his dad.

"Well you pick your moments. Dad is sat there gaping like a fish and I think Mom is contemplating tying Mrs Talbot to her chair so she doesn't run around the whole club telling everyone that you have a 'gentleman friend'." Sam said sliding into the car. Dean groaned loudly and contemplated bashing his head against the steering wheel again before he settled on hitting it against his arms instead.

"Fuck my actual fucking life in the fucking ass." He grumbled into his arms.

"Also I'm going to have a huge bruise on my leg thanks to you." Sam said sounding annoyed.

"Oh I am sorry Samantha, I think you'll mange." Dean snapped. "You deserved it as well, sniggering like a little bitch."

"Oh come on, you were going to have to tell them sometime about Cas and prom."

"Sunday brunch was not the time I was thinking of."

"When were you thinking of telling them?"

"Like five minutes before prom." Dean offered because that might have actually been true.

"You're an asshole." Sam said shaking his head in disapproval.

"Watch it Sammy." Dean warned.

"It wasn't fair on Cas for you to just hide him away." Sam said. Dean lifted his head from his arms and gave his brother a glare. "I'm just saying."

"Well don't...oh fuck this." Dean grumbled starting up the car. "Come on, let's get out of here. If Dad is pissed at me then I'd rather not be in a place that houses golf clubs."

"I think you're overreacting but whatever." Sam said shrugging. "What are you going to do?"

"About which part?" Dean asked.

"The whole thing with prom?" Sam asked. "You're still going to take Cas right?"

"Sam-" Dean said wincing because it was most likely that his parents would end up wanting to talk to him about this and that was not a conversation he wanted to have.

That conversation came late into the evening. Dean had spent most of the day out with Sam in an attempt to avoid his parents but he coulnd't avoid the stack of homework he'd been putting off since the middle of the week. He was halfway through the chapter he needed to read for American Literature when Mary stepped into his room ignoring the 'Knock Before Entering' rule in a rule only a mother could.

"Dean...Dean can I talk to you?" Mary asked. Dean looked up from his school work and nodded his head. Mary walked into the room, frowning slightly at the small mess, and sat on the edge of Dean's bed. She looked smaller when she wasn't wearing her suits or designer dresses but it was pretty obvious that Mary preferred wearing jeans or leggings and sweaters. "About this morning..." Mary said nervously.

"Mom-"

"Sweetie I've known for a while." She said stopping whatever Dean was about to say because that was the last thing he thought his mother was going to say.

"What?"

"Last year Sam told me about the young man you'd met at that concert." Mary explained. Dammit Sammy. "Don't go planning your brother's death Dean, he only did it because he was concerned about you. I didn't tell your father because I thought if you wanted to tell him then you could in your own time. Obviously I didn't think that time would be Sunday brunch."

"I'm sorry if I ruined it for you."

"Dean I find Sunday brunch unbearable, your father and I only go because we have an image to upload." Mary explained. "Now I'm not saying that you could of picked a better moment, because honestly Dean you could have, but I'm not angry at you. What I am angry about is why you didn't tell us."

"I didn't really tell anyone."

"I know, Sam told me that he was the only one to know apart from Castiel's friend and his boss." Mary said. "If you were worried about what people would say then I can understand that but it doesn't make acceptable. If Castiel said yes to going to the prom with you then he must care about you, keeping him in the dark isn't far."

"Sam said the same thing."

"That's because it's the right thing Dean." Mary said with a sigh. "You need to think about what you are going to do Dean."

"I like Cas, I probably shouldn't because he's sarcastic and he hates most of the people at school but he's funny...he loves music and could probably quote every Bob Dylan song word for word.

"Sounds like he's got good taste." Mary commented. Dean found himself nodding. "But what are you going to do?"

"I...I don't know. The way Vic reacted...the way Bela reacted and the fact that dad hasn't looked at me since Sam and I got home...is being with Cas worth the grief I'm going to get over it? Is it worth the grief you're going to get? I mean being...liking guys in the Mid-West? That's not the easiest thing to do."

"Dean listen to me." Mary said sounding stern. "I couldn't care less who you like ok? I wouldn't care if you came home with an alien with three heads and proclaimed that you were moving to Hawaii to run a pineapple farm. I would only care if you were happy. If Castiel makes you happy then you should focus on that."

"I have a reputation...you have a reputation to uphold."

"Oh fuck reputations Dean!" Mary snapped. Dean couldn't help but gape at his mother. He'd heard her swear before but it had been a while since she had dropped the F bomb. "Look Dean...I was in your position. My parents came from old southern money and your father...well he was he mechanic who fixed my car whenever I ran it off the road swerving out the way of squirrels. My parents didn't want us together so your father worked his damn ass off proving that he could make something of himself and I will love him for that for the rest of my life."

"You don't speak to your parents though; we've seen Grandma Campbell maybe three times in my life." Dean said recalling Christmas four years prior which was when Mary agreed that inviting her parents round for dinner had been a huge mistake.

"That's because they couldn't accept John and I together. I still stayed with him though because I loved him. I accept you Dean, I accept everything about you because you're my son, you're one of the brightest things in my life so don't ever be scared that you could do anything to make me ashamed of you." Mary said pulling Dean into a warm and firm hug. Sure he was eighteen years old but he could still have a damn hug off his mom. "I love you honey, don't forget that." Mary said giving Dean one last squeeze.

"Do you want anything to eat? You didn't come down for dinner."

"No, I'm fine Mom. I've got work that needs doing then I'm going to bed."

"Ok honey, remember what I said ok?" Mary said heading towards Dean's door.

"I will." Dean promised but that didn't stop him from remembering the look on his father's face earlier on that day.

Really he'd been selfish to date Cas. He hadn't thought about his family or his friend beforehand; he'd just gotten himself swept away with the tidal wave that was Castiel Walsh. Now he was adrift without a lifesaver and he was pretty obvious he'd end up drowning if he carried on any longer.

"Hello, Winchester residence. Mary speaking" A calm voice said. Castiel had been hoping that Dean would answer the phone not Dean's mother, it wasn't even sure if she knew about Castiel or not so it might make things awkward. Still he pressed on.

"Hello, could I possibly talk to Dean?"

"I'm sorry, he's upstairs studying at the moment but I can get him to call you back before he goes to bed. Who may I say called?" Damn this woman was polite.

"Oh it's Castiel."

"Oh Castiel!" Mary cried. Clearly she knew who Castiel was. "I'll tell Dean that you called and get him to call you back."

"Thank you." Castiel said. Mary was incredible polite as she hung up leaving Castiel to sit by his phone and wait. Not literally as he had better things to do than to sit by a phone and wait for a guy to call but he did keep an eye on the bedside phone as he worked.

Dean did not call.

He was tempted to ring Dean before he went to bed but it had been nerve wracking enough ringing the first time and he was sure that the Winchesters wouldn't appreciate being called at eleven in the evening. He went to bed without hearing from Dean and wondered if Mary was just pretending to be polite when she said she would tell Dean that he'd called. She didn't seem that way at all and from the endless things Dean had told him about his mother assumed she was a genuinely lovely person. Maybe Dean didn't want to call him.

He barely slept all night and by the next morning uneasiness filled his stomach as he hurried down the hallway looking for any sign of Dean. It was a minute until class started when he finally saw Dean leaning against Bela Talbot's locker along with Victor Henriksen. Dean straightened up when he saw Castiel walking over and at least had the decency to look abashed.

"I tried calling you yesterday. I left a message with your mother, she said she would tell you that I called, and you never called me back. What happened?" Castiel asked not even giving Dean a chance to say hello. He was worried that Dean wouldn't say hello and that would have been even worse. Dean glanced over at Victor and Bela before giving Castiel a mumbled reply.

"I'm sorry I was pretty busy all of yesterday. It was a long day." Dean said looking down at the floor. It was then that it hit Castiel; Dean didn't even have the guts to look Castiel in the eyes. Sure he could be as open as he wanted to be when it was just them in Dean's room or his car or in Trax but at school, the school where Dean actually had a decent reputation, it was completely different. Dean's hand squeezing his arm in the hallway, those moments of happiness in the courtyard at lunch and the small glances between classes were all just blips on Dean's perfect name.

"Bullshit, you could have at least called." Castiel said. He noticed several of Dean's friends were now becoming interested in their conversation; Bela Talbot even placed a protective, or maybe possessive, hand on Dean's arm.

"Dean, is everything alright?" She asked in her lilting English accent.

"Yeah it's fine Bela." Dean said finally looking up at Castiel. "I'm sorry, I was just busy and I've been meaning to talk to you-"

"Like you and him have a lot to talk about." Someone behind Dean scoffed. Castiel couldn't even pick out who it was; they all blended together in the end.

"Dean I waited for you to call." Castiel snapped hating how he sounded because he wasn't the kind of person to wait around for anyone to call.

"Yeah...I guess we need to talk about stuff...just...just not here ok?"

"No, you can say whatever you want to say here." Castiel said firmly. If Dean was going to act like this then he could act like a coward in front of his friends.

"Cas" Dean said pleadingly.

"You can tell me all about your family, play freaking Bob Dylan to butter me up and kiss me when it's just the two of us but you can't even talk to me when you're with your friends?" Castiel asked. The effect was almost instantaneous with several people looking at Dean with a mix of surprise and confusion. Dean himself wore a pained expression and it wasn't the fact that Castiel had caused him to look pained it was the fact that Dean looked pained in the first place that hurt Castiel.

"Cas"

"Just say it Dean...just do it already." Castiel said determined not to cry because he could already hear the words before Dean even said them.

"I asked someone else to prom and she said yes and-"

A loud ringing filled Castiel's ears and the hallway tilted for a moment as his chest almost burst with rage. "You fucking asshole! You goddamn cowardly asshole!" Castiel yelled thumping Dean firmly in the chest. Everyone around them went silent and simply stared. "You're a fucking liar Dean. A cowardly, scared little liar!" Castiel practically screamed. He was past giving a shit who heard him or what they thought about him as he thumped Dean yet again. The worst thing was that Dean let him, he just stood there and let Castiel screamed at him and hit him.

"Cas I'm sorry but-"

"Go and fuck yourself Dean Winchester because I certainly won't." Castiel spat giving Dean a firm shove, nearly knocking him over despite Dean being taller than him, in the process. A hand caught Castiel's wrist and for a wild moment Castiel was terrified that it was a teacher. Instead of a stern voice reprimanding him he heard a calm English accent.

"Come on Cassie, let's get out of here." Balthazar said gently pulling Castiel away from Dean. Balthazar's grip tightened as he started walking down the hallway, making Castiel was in step with him. It wasn't until Dean let a broken sounding "Cas" that Balthazar stopped and turned around. "I told you to leave him alone Winchester but you just had to force your way into his life then royally fuck it up because that's what you people do. You take things that you don't deserve because you think you're so high and fucking mighty that you can get away with it. You may drive a fancy car and spend time in a fancy country club pissing away your parent's before going back to your fancy fucking house with mummy and daddy but at the end of day, when it comes to the things that matter, you're all piss poor. Cassie was right; you can go fuck yourself Winchester." Balthazar snapped before he set off back down the hallway.

Castiel wasn't even remotely aware that he was crying until Balthazar started dabbing at his eyes with a tissue. Castiel tried to apologise but Balthazar silenced him with a firm hug. "It's ok; I know…I know...I'm sorry too." He mumbled into Castiel's hair as Castiel just stood in his best friends arms and cried. "Come on let's get out of here, no one is in at mine and two guesses you don't want to stay around here now that you've pretty much just outed Ol' Money Bags." Balthazar said wiping more tears away from Castiel's face. "Want me to drive?" Balthazar offered.

"I might be upset but I'm not stupid." Castiel said letting a slightly soggy sounding laugh.

"Worth a shot." Balthazar said smiling at Castiel like they hadn't been fighting for the past week or so.

When they were back at Balthazar's house Castiel was pretty much pushed into the couch and told to sit there while Balthazar made him a cup of tea.

"I hate tea, you know I hate tea." Castiel said shuddering.

"My nana always said a good cuppa would solve the world's problems and I'm of the same opinion." Balthazar said. God bless Balthazar's nana, a delightful old lady who gave Castiel a box of homemade shortbread every Christmas. "And after I've made you a cuppa I'm ringing Benny and telling him you're not going into work this evening."

"Balth I need the money. Dad didn't get the job he went for and if we could actually do with having gas and electricity for this month."

"No you need to rant, cry some more and call Dean Winchester a dick several times." Balthazar said waltzing off into the kitchen to make what was most likely going to be the first of several cups of tea he would make that evening.

"I…I know I'm angry at him but I hardly want to call him a dick." Castiel said.

"Even if he is one?" Balthazar asked making a face.

"He's a coward really, not a dick."

"Could have fooled me." Castiel heard Balthazar mutter as he rattled cups and heated water for the dreaded cup of tea.

It had not been a good day. Actually that was a fucking understatement. After Cas had near screamed at him in the hallway and stormed off with Balthazar in toe Dean had been left to deal with the fallout. Well, by deal with the fallout he meant skipping all of his classes to hide out in the library all day then near run to the Impala as soon as school finished. Despite trying very hard to not look at anyone as he ran Dean couldn't help but notice how several turned to stare at him and whisper.

Great, just fucking great.

"God-fucking-dammit" Dean snapped throwing his whole body into the Impala and practically ramming the key into the ignition. "Fuck fuck fuck!" He groaned as the tape he'd been listening to that morning kicked in. It took a few seconds to place Led Zepplin's Babe I'm Gonna Leave You. How fucking ironic. He turned the stereo off and gunned it out the parking lot knowing full well he'd probably just burnt half of his wheels into the road.

How fucking stupid could he really get? Cas had been right, he was a coward and a liar. At the end of the day he had been more concerned with what other people thought of his relationship than his actual relationship. He liked Cas, God he really liked Cas, and they'd been happy but of course Dean had to go and fuck it all up by being too scared.

He had to make things right, he couldn't let things between him and Cas end like this. Luckily Sam had a soccer team meeting so instead of picking him up from school Dean drove as fast as he could to Trax. Benny was stood behind the counter when Dean walked in which probably wasn't a good sign because normally that was where Cas sat. Benny looked up and his face darkened when he saw Dean.

"Give me one good reason to not shoot you in the ass with a staple gun." Benny practically growled. Clearly Benny knew what had happened.

"Because I've come to apologise." Dean said quickly because he knew Benny probably would shoot him with the staple gun without a moment's hesitation.

"Good luck with that. Balthazar rang me up earlier on and said Cas was sick, which is a load of horse shit because that kid doesn't get sick and even when he feeling like he got kicked in the face by a horse he still comes in. You must have fucked up bad." Benny said folding his arms across his chest.

"How do you know I did this?" Dean asked even though Dean knew that was a stupid question.

"Because Balthazar said 'Oi Southern Comfort, Cas is eating his weight in Nana's shortbread and drowning in tea because Richie Rich cocked up. He'll be in on Wednesday but don't mention prom or Winchester because then he'll probably play Madonna until you vomit up a lung.' That was a direct quote as well. If Cas is willing drinking tea then you fucked up." Benny said pointing his staple gun accusingly at Dean. "Now what did you do?"

"I fucked up, simple as that and now I'm trying to fix it."

"Tryin' to or actually fixin' it?" Benny asked.

"Trying to, I don't know how to fix it."

"Admittin' that you're an ass could be a good place to start." Benny said. Heck it was good advice and Dean hoped that Cas would listen to him...though there was a string chance of that not happening any time soon.

Castiel did a near perfect impression of his father on Tuesday morning and explained that sadly Castiel had come down with a viral infection and would be out of school for the next week. The principal's assistant had been most sympathetic and wished Castiel a speedy recovery. This left Castiel free to mope on the couch for as long as he damn well pleased and seeing how bitter he was feeling about Dean there was a strong possibility he'd be on the couch for a long time.

By Saturday morning Castiel had watched enough daytime TV to rot his brain and, at a guess, hadn't changed his clothes since Monday. As long as he woke his father up each morning and pushed him out the house for yet another job interview then his father was none the wiser to Castiel vacation on the couch or perpetual moping. it wasn't until Balthazar showed up at midday that Castiel even realised he hadn't left the couch since the afternoon before.

"Ok you really smell and you have a creepy hobo vibe going on. You need to get off this couch and go to work because a week is long enough to mope about Dean Winchester." Blathazar said firmly. "Take a shower, eat something that hasn't been deep fried or microwaved to death and put some bloody clean clothes on already. Yes Dean has a nice backside but he's a dickhead and treated you like crap. Get over it already before I end up having to removed from this couch with force."

"You done with your little speach?"

"You ready to shower and stop looking like you belong on the street?" Balthazar shot back. Castiel sighed and pushed himself up off the couch. "Thank the Lord he has risen. It's like Lazarus...well if Lazarus wore socks with holes in and smelt like Cheetos."

"i'm up and I'm going to shower so please stop insulting me." Castiel sighed as he dragged his body upstairs to take his first shower since Monday. Actually when he thought about it he had been acting quite gross over the past few days. Balthazar had a point though Castiel would never tell him as such.

"So you finally decided to come into work?" Benny asked when Castiel slunk in through the employee's entrance with Balthazar in tow.

"Well yesterday I became close to crying over one of the storylines in Days of Our Lives and I realised that if I stayed on the couch for another day I'd go insane…or become a fan of Days of Our Lives. I'm not sure which is worse to be honest." Castiel said shuddering slightly.

"Good to have you back kid, I could do without Queen Elizabeth over there but I suppose he can make himself useful for once." Benny muttered before smirking at Balthazar's worried expression.

"I don't have to clean out the employee bathroom after someone threw it like last time do I?" Balthazar asked grimacing.

"You were the one who threw up so it was only fair." Castiel pointed out.

"No, you can down the street and grab some coffees from that bakery. The coffee maker has been making funky noises for the past two days." Benny said handing Balthazar a couple of dollars. "No sugar in mine, Andrea's trying to get me to cut down on the sweet stuff."

"You are so whipped." Balthazar said but he hurried out the store without any complaints which was something of a novelty. Castiel shot Benny a grateful look.

"Smooth." He said sitting down behind the counter. "If the coffee maker was really screwed up then you would have rung me up after two minutes on the brink of a meltdown."

"True but at least it gets him outta here for a minute. Tell me what happened the other day, why have you been MIA since Monday?"

"Didn't Balthazar tell you?" Castiel asked.

"He just mentions that Dean did something and that you wouldn't be in work. What did he do? I could have him banned in a second."

"No, he'd die without this place and you'd go under within a month." Castiel said. He hated how his stomach did a weird flutter when Benny mentioned Dean's name. Even if he tried to convince himself that his thing with Dean was just a blip there was a strong possibility that he wouldn't be able to. Sure it had been short with Dean but Castiel he opened up to him, he'd told Dean about his father's drinking and his mother walking out on him. He'd told Dean things he'd only ever told Balthazar and that had meant a lot in the end. "He…he asked someone else to prom…apparently she's the daughter of one of his parent's friends." Castiel said.

"Shit…" Benny sighed

"Yeah…so I screamed at him in the middle of the hallway, I called him a coward and then told him to go fuck himself because I wouldn't." Castiel said. Benny looked at him with disbelief for a moment before bursting out into laughter. "Yeah that wasn't my wittiest moment by any means."

At the end of the day Castiel could do one of two things; he could spend prom night at home watching shitty TV shows with Balthazar or he could just suck it up, hold his head up high and go to the damn prom. Even though it would be painfully cheesy and someone would probably end up throwing up thanks to the punch, there was a possibility that would be Balthazar, Castiel knew that Benny was right when he said that he'd regret not going. He'd be leaving Lawrence soon for college and you ever had one senior prom.

"Hey Benny, you know you said that I could have your suit if I wanted it…could I possibly have it?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah 'course you can. Going show those snobs how to dress for once?"

"I've been trying to do that for years…now I just want to show them that they didn't completely fuck up my time at high school."

"And if you see Dean?"

"He was a coward and he hurt me but he's not a bad person. I'm not going to hurt him by being an ass towards him if I see him. I was happy when we were together and that's what I'm going to remember, not the upset he caused me." Castiel said

"I'm proud of you brother." Benny said giving Castiel a smile as Balthazar came hurrying back into the store, a paper tray full of coffee cups clutched in his hand, grumbling all the while over pretentious artists hogging the sidewalk and how overpriced the bakery's coffee was.

One Week Later

There was a horrible uneasy feeling in Dean's stomach as he attached a wrist corsage to Jo's wrist. He hadn't seen her in years but in that time she had grown into a pretty but spunky girl though her taste in music was questionable. Maybe it was the way Mary was looking at him with a mix of disappointment and confusion or maybe it was because deep down he really wanted to be stood with Cas instead of Jo.

"It was really nice of you asking Jo to come with you tonight." Ellen, Jo's mother, said giving Dean a warm smile. From his space on the couch Sam rolled his eyes and burrowed his head further in his book.

"Yeah because wearing heels is something I really wanted to do tonight." Jo muttered switching her weight from one foot to the other as she shot Dean, John and Bobby a self-suffering look.

"Joanna Beth it wouldn't kill you to dress like a lady for once." Ellen said rolling her eyes as she fussed with Jo's dress.

"Ma!" Jo whined looking at Dean for help.

"You look great Jo, we better get going or we're gonna be late." He said finishing with Jo's corsage. She shot him an appreciative look and grabbed her bag and coat. While Ellen began fussing, much to Jo's displeasure, Mary motioned for Dean to follow her into the hallway.

"What's wrong Mom?" Dean asked because there was clearly something on Mary's mind.

"Please don't tell me that you are taking Jo to the prom just to please your friends or to stop people from saying things about you and Castiel." Mary said sternly. "Because if you are then I'm really disappointed in you Dean."

"Mom-"

"No Dean, when you told us that you were taking Castiel I will admit that I was surprised and so was your father but he came around to the idea. I was happy you'd found someone you wanted to go with then I have to hear from Mrs Talbot of all people that you and Castiel had a huge bust up two weeks ago at school, which you never told me about, and then I find out from Ellen that you asked Jo to go with you to the prom." Mary said folding her arms across her chest. "Why didn't you tell me? What happened Dean?"

"It's nothing Mom-"

"It's not nothing Dean!" Mary snapped. "What happened?"

"I...I made a mistake."

"With Castiel?" Mary asked.

"No...well yeah but the mistake was that I was more concerned with what other people thought than what I wanted." Dean admitted.

"Oh sweetheart, you selfless boy." Mary said pulling Dean into a firm hug. "Have you tried talking to Castiel?"

"He wasn't in school for a week and since then it's been clear that he's been avoiding me." Dean mumbled into his mother's shoulder.

"If he's there tonight...well talk to him, it can't hurt if you explain that you're sorry for whatever you did." Mary said pulling away from Dean and fixing his tie with a small smile. "If someone makes you happy then that's all that matters, not what other people think ok?" Mary added placing a tender hand on Dean's cheek.

"That's if he'll listen to me."

"You're a pretty convincing child, remember that time we let you roller skate in the house?" Mary said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the coffee table…and the lamp…and the picture frame…oh and Sam's arm." Dean said as his mother shook her head.

"Yes well I think that taught us all to never let you use roller blades ever again." Mary said with a slight chuckle.

"I better get going." Dean said nodding back towards the living room where Jo was waiting.

"Have a good time honey and remember what I said ok?"

"Yeah I will Mom…thanks." Dean said giving his mother a very quick hug as Jo and Ellen walked out into the hallway. "Ready to go Jo?"

"Yeah the sooner we get there then the sooner I can sit down." She said. "Though if they play The Bangles at all tonight then you have my permission to stab me with a fork."

"Only if you do the same." Dean said.

"You have got yourself a deal." Dean said offering Jo an arm. She snorted but accepted his arm and, after Ellen and Bobby had taken several more photos to prove Jo was actually wearing a dress, quickly fled the house. "By the way, I put some of your sneakers in the back of my car earlier." Dean said as they neared the Impala.

"Dean Winchester, if you didn't bat for the other team I'd kiss you on your kinda girly mouth." Jo said already slipping off her heels.

"I don't have a girly mouth and I'm not-"

"Your brother told me about your boyfriend…well ex…he told me about Cas basically." Jo said with a shrug.

"Dammit Sam!" Dean groaned opening the car door to let Jo in.

"Hey he's a pretty decent kid; if I wasn't smug over being an only child I wouldn't mind a brother like him." Jo said. Dean started up the car with a shrug of his shoulders while Jo slipped her sneakers oh, wiggling her feet as she did so. Dean was just pulling out the driveway when he realised the tape in the deck was Bob Dylan's Another Side of Bob Dylan. He knew it was stupid, and pretty masochistic, but he'd been playing it a lot since he and Cas…well since things hadn't worked out.

"Hey, can you pass me the box of tapes by your feet?" Dean asked ejecting the tape from the deck. He grabbed a random ACDC tape from the box Jo picked up and shoved it into the deck. He threw the Dylan tape into the box and tried not to think about Cas. Jo didn't say anything, of that Dean was thankful for, and they both sat in silence just listening to the music as Dean drove them towards the Lawrence Country Club.

"You should talk to him if he's there."

"What?"

"Castiel…if he's there you should talk to him or apologise because you clearly still like him."

"I don't…I…yeah I still do. It wasn't until it was over that I realised just how much actually." Dean said.

"so if he's there…"

"If he's willing to listen I'll try and apologise."

"Awesome…now enough of the mush because this song is the shit." Jo said turning up the volume to For Those About To Rock.

Charles was reading a book in the living room, his glasses perched on the end of his nose, when Castiel walked into the room wearing the suit he'd sent the best part of three days altering. It looked homemade and probably a bit ridiculous but Castiel was past caring. It felt like the kind of suit he'd happily wear if he ever wanted to actually wear a suit.

"Castiel where are you going all dressed up...and where did you find that suit?" Charles asked placing his book on the coffee table and standing up to get a better look at Castiel.

"Um...I'm going to the prom. Benny leant it me. It's still a bit big, I'm not that good at sewing but-"

"No...no it looks good on you son, it really does. You wouldn't look like you if you were all slicked back and sophisticated." Charles said.

"I don't know if that's a compliment but I'm going to take it as one." Castiel said picking up his battered high tops from the small shoe cubby near the living room door. His father looked down at the shoes and shook his head, though his smile showed he wasn't that annoyed. "Benny's feet are two sizes bigger than mine and it was either buy dress shoes or have electricity for the next two weeks." He said.

"We won't have to worry about that for longer." Charles said with a small smile. Castiel almost dropped his shoes as he stood up to stare at his father.

"You got a job?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah...the other day an old friend of mine rang up asking if I was still writing. I know haven't written anything since before your mother left, and even then only a few people read my books, but I've been trying recently and Naomi was impressed with what I'd written."

"Dad...that's...that's great." Castiel said.

"Yeah well this way all the money you make this summer working over at Benny's you get to keep. Take it off with you to college or whatever you want, no more paying for stuff that I should have been paying for. I know I never tell you this but I'm really proud of you Castiel and I know that she would be really proud of you if she were still here." Charles said.

"Thanks Dad." Castiel said. "That…that means a lot." He added. Neither he or his father were fans of hugs or showing much emotion, apart from sarcasm, but in that moment Castiel needed his father to know that he wasn't mad at how Charles had been over the past few years.

"I know I haven't been much of a father since she left but…but I'm going to try. I don't want you to leave here for college hating me." Charles said ducking his head and scratching the back of his neck with what looked like nerves.

"Dad I don't hate you, I never have and I never will." Castiel said firmly. Yes his father had his faults but he'd been abandoned by the woman he loved, abandonment did fucked up things to people. "I understand why you've done what you've done and I don't resent you for it, I promise." Castiel added. It looked as though his father was either going to cry or say something incredibly emotional but before he could do either a loud knocking came from the hallway. Charles frowned and shot Castiel a confused look.

"I thought you said you were going by yourself to the prom."

"I am." Castiel said also frowning. Charles shrugged his shoulders and went to let whoever was at the door into the house. Castiel heard his father let out a short laugh as he opened the door and it soon became apparent as to why.

"Mr Walsh I'm here to request Castiel's hand in prom date...iage." Balthazar said tipping an imaginary hat as he waltzed into the living room.

"Balthazar...what the hell are you wearing?" Castiel asked staring at his best friend in horror.

"I could ask you same thing Cassie. This, my fashion impaired friend, is the finest crushed velvet suit that the charity shop downtown had to offer." Balthazar said striking the most outlandish pose in a blue crushed velvet suit.

"Yes it really goes with that silk shirt of yours." Charles Walsh said giving Castiel a look as if to question how his son had ended up with a friend like Balthazar. "Though you might want to button up a few of those buttons. You miss out anymore and we'll all be seeing little Balthazar."

"Oh Mr Walsh, you saucy minx." Balthazar said and Castiel nearly choked laughing at his father's horrified expression. "Come on then Cassie, they will have served the dry chicken by now and we can rock up fashionably, very fashionably in my case, late." Balthazar said. "Let's show those country club stiffs how to be cool."

"It's at the country club?" Charles asked with distaste. Castiel nodded and matched his father's expression. "How'd they swing that?"

"Lisa Braeden is head of the prom committee and her mother knows the owner or something like that." Balthazar said with a shrug. "She's all too nice and perpetually cheerful but that freakishly bending cheerleader could take over the world if she tried."

"There's nothing wrong with Lisa Braeden taking over the world. She's not all that bad."

"Did you just say something nice about someone? More importantly a richie?" Balthazar asked.

"She gave me her history notes because you spend more time sleeping through that lesson than paying attention." Castiel replied. Balthazar scoffed loudly and held out his arm for Castiel to take.

"Enough about my lack of attention span there Cassie, are you ready to blow this hot dog joint and dance our troubles away?"

"Don't push it."

"If you're not back by one I'm going to assume you either turned into a pumpkin or crashed out on Balthazar's couch." Charles said giving his son a firm clap on the back. He then shot Balthazar a warning look. "Try to bring him home in one piece without a criminal record. He's got several scholarships that could be scrapped if he gets arrested for cow tipping...again."

"That was one time Mr Walsh and not entirely my fault. I am a pillar of innocence and integrity." Balthazar insisted.

"You're a pillar of something alright, now get out of here the pair if you. I can only stand to look at Balthazar's suit for a few more seconds." Charles said smiling fondly at the pair of them.

"See you later." Castiel said returning his father's smile. "Come on you." He added pushing Balthazar towards the door.

"Cassie I do love it when you take charge." Balthazar said putting on the most ridiculously high voice Castiel had ever heard. His father's laughter could be heard even as they walked out the door.

"You're a pain in the ass." Castiel muttered rolling his eyes at his best friend.

"Yes but you still love me in the most heartbreakingly platonic way." Balthazar said shrugging his shoulders as they walked to Castiel's car. "Besides you're going to see Dean tonight so you need moral support."

"And you needed a ride." Castiel added knowing his best friend all too well.

"Yes that too." Balthazar said grinning. "Are…will you be ok seeing Dean? I saw you avoiding him at school."

"Balth…I'm ok with it. I'll be out of here in a few months and I'll probably never have to deal with Dean again." Castiel said. That fact sent a jolt of sadness through Castiel. Yes Dean had hurt him but Castiel had cared about him and there was a big chance that he'd care about Dean for a long time after he left Lawrence.

"You sure about that?" Balthazar asked. Castiel shrugged his shoulders as they climbed into Castiel's car. Blowin' In The Wind filled the car as Castiel backed out the driveway and Balthazar didn't even complain as Castiel hummed along as they drove through Lawrence towards the country club. "I can smell the snobbery from here." Balthazar muttered as they drove through the pretentious looking gates. "Why do I feel like we're going through the gates of hell?" he then commented pulling a disgusted face at the banner proclaiming Lawrence Grammar Senior Prom 1986.

"Because that's exactly what it is." Castiel said wearing the same disgusted face as Balthazar. He was going to his school prom; it made no sense at all.

Castiel parked the car trying very hard to not look around the parking lot for Dean's very familiar car. The sleek black Impala was parked next to the brand new Mustang Victor Henriksen drove and memories of his time spent in the Impala washed over Castiel. He pointedly looked away from the car and gave Balthazar a glare to make it very obvious that Balthazar was not allowed to comment on Dean's car. Balthazar just shrugged and offered his arm for the second time that night.

"Ready to rock this joint dear?"

"Don't push it." Castiel said rolling his eyes. He and Balthazar walked through the entrance of the club and followed the sign leading the way to the prom. A bored looking kid, probably some sophomore on the prom committee, took their tickets and wished them a good time in the most tired voice Castiel had ever heard. That was probably an indication to how the night would turn out really.

Balthazar pointed out Dean's date within two minutes of them walking into the elaborately decorated ballroom. Castiel resisted the urge to kick Balthazar as he looked over to the girl Balthazar was nodding over to.

The girl was short, blonde and pretty. Exactly the kind of person Castiel would have assumed Dean Winchester would take to a prom if someone had asked him that very question a month or so ago. He didn't recognise her from school but that wasn't surprising as everyone at Castiel's school blended together according to him…apart from Dean.

Castiel knew he'd have to see Dean sooner or later but that didn't stop his stomach from dropping when he saw Dean sat next to the blonde girl. The weeks before both Castiel and Dean had joked about wearing suits, Castiel joking because it would probably be one of the only times in his life when he would wear a suit and Dean joking mainly to hide his discomfort at having to wear a suit, and so Castiel knew Dean would be dressed up but that didn't stop his heart from racing as he took in the sight of the other boy in a finely cut suit.

He couldn't stay looking at Dean all night; he'd be caught by Balthazar or worse if he wasn't careful. He was about to turn away, perhaps to ask Balthazar if they dare get some punch, when the blonde girl with Dean looked over and caught him looking at her. Castiel expected a sarcastic looking smirk or maybe even a glare. What he didn't expect was for the blonde girl to smile brightly and nudged Dean's arms. She said something into his ear and Dean quickly spun round to look at Castiel. The girl continued to say something while Dean just stared at Castiel with an unreadable expression.

"This was a stupid idea…the music is shit and we hate everyone here so we should just go. I can sweet talk Ash into letting you into the Roadhouse without Benny's help this time." Castiel said quickly as he turned to Balthazar. "I'm serious Balth, we could just try and catch whichever band is playing there tonight instead of being here."

"Are you saying that because you want to go or are you saying that because Dean Winchester is…walking this way, shit he's walking this way." Balthazar practically babbled.

"What?" Castiel hissed.

"Hey Cas." Dean said from behind Castiel. If that didn't send his stomach plummeting to the floor then he really didn't know what did. Castiel turned round and hated just how close Dean was to him.

"Oh hello…" Castiel

"Nice suit." Dean said sounding much fonder than he should.

"Nice date" he shot back knowing full well how much of a brat he sounded. Dean's face fell ever so slightly and instantly Castiel felt like he'd probably gone too far.

"Her name's Jo, she's the daughter of one of my dad's best friends. Her family is staying with us for the weekend and my mom thought it would be a nice idea for me to bring her here." Dean explained. "She's pretty cool actually."

"Well you two have fun."

"Cas wait! I shouldn't have done what I did. You were right, I was a coward and I spent too much time caring about what other people thought than what I thought. You didn't deserve what I did to you and I'm so sorry that I hurt you."

"Well now you have a clear conscience, you can get back to your date." Castiel said hating himself for wanting to just accept Dean's apology and hugging him tightly.

"Dude she's not my date. It's blatantly obvious I'd rather be here with my boyfriend. If I could build a freaking time machine and go back to that day in the hallway then I would but I can't…I can tell you that I'm sorry for what I did and that…that…"

"What Dean, that what?"

"I've listened to freaking Comin' Back To Me about a hundred times since that fight. I've had Bob Dylan playing in my car so often that Sam's gotten sick of the guy and I've been wanting to just apologise to you all week, heck I've wanted to get down on my knees and beg you to with me tonight all week but I couldn't because I knew you'd probably yell at me again." Dean said groaning with exasperation. "I'm trying to say that there's a chance I'm in love with you which is insane because we dated for like two weeks then I fucked it all up but you are so fucking amazing that it's impossible to not be in love with you. I know I screwed up and once again I'm so sorry but you had to hear that, I had to tell you because I'd probably never get the courage or the opportunity to say it again."

"Dean I-"

"Yeah I know, I hurt you too much."

"Dean-"

"I'm sorry Cas, I really am." Dean said giving Castiel a sad smile before he turned on his heels and walked out the huge ballroom. Castiel watched him as he walked away and tried to think of something to say but nothing would come to mind. He never though Dean would apologise to him and he certainly never thought Dean would leave the prom. Castiel ran his fingers through his hair, not even caring what it ended up looking like, and sighed deeply because now he had no idea what he wanted to do.

With a loud groan Balthazar turned to Castiel and gave him pleading look. "Cassie...go." He said.

"What?"

"Don't be stupid, Dean is in love with you and, as much as it pains me to say it, you're in love with him. Don't let him walk away like this because you'll regret it and bring it up every time you get drunk or lonely for the next five years." Balthazar said. The gratitude he felt for his best friend in that moment was immeasurable. With a huge smile Castiel pulled Balthazar into a tight hug. "Don't cry on the suit, crushed velvet looks awful wet."

"You're my best friend and I don't know what I'd do without you." Castiel mumbled into Balthazar's neck.

"Me neither Cassie, me neither. Now go and get your man before his tears off in the monstrosity of his." Balthazar said hugging Castiel back before pushing him slightly. "Go." He pressed.

"Ok…um…here, so you can get home." Castiel said giving Balthazar his keys. "If you crash and die then I'll never forgive you ok?" Balthazar nodded. Castiel gave him one last smile before running out the ballroom in the direction of the parking lot. He spotted Dean opening the door to the Impala instantly.

"Dean! Dean wait!" He called across the parking lot. "Dean!"

Dean looked up and his forehead knitted in a frown when he saw Castiel running towards him. "Cas wha-" but Castiel didn't give him a chance to finish. Instead he threw his arms around Dean and pulled him into a deep kiss. They had said enough to each other already and now Castiel just wanted to show Dean how he loved him. Dean was still for a moment and Castiel was terrified that it was too late, Dean had given up on them, but then Dean was opening his mouth and giving as good as he got. His hands were firmly on Castiel's waist and gently guiding him until his back was pressed against Dean's car. Dean broke away to kiss along Castiel's jaw and Castiel gripped onto Dean's shoulders tightly. "I'm so sorry Cas." Dean mumbled into his jaw.

"I know...I'm sorry too." Castiel said. "I sort of love you as well." He whispered. "Um…I gave my car keys to Balthazar. Are you leaving Jo here?"

"She knows Lisa and Bela from when we were kids and she sort of insisted I go because if you had brushed me off she knew I'd be pretty pissed. She's getting a taxi or a lift back to mine later."

"Oh…ok…"

"My parents went out with Jo's parents and my brother went to stop over at his friend's house for the night...do you want to come back to mine?"

"Does that mean you want to be my boyfriend again?"

"For as long as you'll let me Cas. For as long as you'll let me." Dean said grinning from ear to ear before bringing his lips to Castiel's and kissing him deeply.


End file.
